


The Story of Us

by Rebeliz



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2019-12-26 10:41:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 44,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18281297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rebeliz/pseuds/Rebeliz
Summary: Wanda and Natasha's relationship since Sokovia and how it develops.





	1. 1

1.

It’s a quiet evening after a long day of training for a war that might never come. Wanda feels boneless where she sits watching a movie that she’s not really following but enduring it because of the pretty girl sitting next to her.

Natasha had insisted they watch the movie when she discovered that Wanda had no idea of what Star Wars is all about and Wanda knew that she was going to end up watching the entire franchise if it gifted her with Natasha’s company.

There’s not much that Wanda knows about Natasha, about any of the people that she now lives with, really. She doesn’t blame them for trying to keep their distance, she wouldn’t dare to after that first impression she made. They do say that first impressions are hard to forget after all.

Natasha had been so excited as she convinced Wanda to watch the movie though. She had no idea that Wanda was already convinced.

Now they’re on a couch, sharing a blanket and watching the movie, well, at least Natasha is watching the movie while Wanda is watching her. The entire floor is dark, the only light present is the one from the flat screen on the wall, so Wanda is confident that she can get away with a little staring.

She can’t be held against her choice either, or at least thats what she tells herself. Natasha is beautiful, she’s gorgeous and Wanda is certain that no one would disagree with her on that. Natasha is alluring, as all intriguing things are. Natasha is made of sharp edges and a soft cat-like voice that can be intimidating when used correctly. Natasha is clever and witted, and Wanda didn’t really stood a chance against her, ever.

The impulse does take her by surprise though and it’s impossible to resist it. Something funny must happen in the movie because Natasha laughs and Wanda is leaning forward without even noticing what she’s doing at first.

She kisses Natasha softly in the corner of her lips and when Natasha turns a little she’s planting one of her lips fully.

She’s had the impulse in the past, of course, this isn’t the first time that Wanda has wanted to kiss Natasha in the past couple of months but it is the first time that she’s actually doing it.

Natasha makes this little sound and it vibrates in Wanda’s lips, bringing her out of her stupor and intensite want. She jolts back, as if she’s been electrocuted and can’t look at the shock in Natasha’s eyes for a couple of embarrassingly long seconds.

“What was that?” Natasha asks with a gentle smile on her lips and Wanda feels her cheeks warm up with a blush.

“I’m sorry.” She quickly apologizes and doesn’t look up, her eyes firmly staring at the white blanket on their laps. Natasha has been nothing but kind with her even when she didn’t need to be, even when she had reason to stay away from Wanda and never approach her in a friendly matter. Wanda would have understood but she’d dared to hope for more.

“Don’t be.” Natasha says softly and the words have Wanda looking back up.

Surprise doesn’t even begin to cover what Wanda is feeling right now. So busy she’s been reciting excuse after excuse for not trying anything that she never stopped to think about the possibility of Natasha being interested. Now Natasha is leaning forward and Wanda can do nothing but sit still and watch it happen.

Natasha is gentle in an unexpected kind of way and it’s taken Wanda months to discover this since it’s not something that Natasha is keen on revealing in the first place. But having Natasha caressing her chin with her fingertips is a whole new experience, one that makes Wanda lose her breath and feel alive in a new way. Who knew that such a simple touch could alight something so wild within her.

This time she kisses Natasha with a little more confidence, a little more pressure and it feels as if she’s only meeting Natasha for the first time right in this moment. In a way she is, of course, they’ve never done this before and things will surely change after.

Natasha kisses just like she does everything else in her everyday life, fully committed and aiming to excel. Wanda smiles against her lips and Natasha responds by fisting her shirt and pulling her closer. Wanda goes willingly but turns the tables when she manages to pull on Natasha’s waist just that little bit harder and Natasha has no other option but to climb on her lap, their lips still not breaking apart.

With Natasha on her lap Wanda feels strangely centered, like the weight of Natasha’s body on top of hers is what she’s been missing and she didn’t even know it until this very moment.

They pull back for air a couple of times but they don’t take more than a couple of seconds before they’re kissing again.

Wanda has imagined this moment so many times that she still has to open her eyes every few minutes just to be sure that it’s actually happening and each time she smiles to herself and kisses Natasha with renewed want because Natasha seems just as eager to be kissing her and it’s everything.  

Eventually they do stop and Wanda’s breathing is a mess, her hands grip Natasha’s hips so hard that she’s sure they’re bruised by now but she needs to collect herself. God, has she ever felt like this? Like fire was running through her veins? Has she ever felt the need to just touch someone so badly?

“You’re a good kisser, rookie.” Natasha says with a sinfully attractive smirk on her lips and Wanda kisses her again, slower this time, her hands pressing on Natasha’s lower back to bring her closer to her own body and Natasha hums against her lips, her hands on Wanda’s hair as she pulls back.

“Don’t you just want to keep kissing me?” She jokes and Natasha’s eyes twitch in surprise, and Wanda likes the look on her. It’s not that often that she gets to surprise the Black Widow after all.

“I like your accent.” Natasha says softly and she shakes her head soon after, as if the thought wasn’t supposed to get pass her treacherous lips and Wanda allows herself to think about a possibility here. Maybe _there is_ a chance for them.

“You’re always insisting I fix it.” Wanda reminds her and Natasha smiles, her eyes falling to Wanda’s lips often enough until she finally gives in and leans forwards, kisses Wanda again and again.

“For missions, yes.” Natasha says when she pulls back, her thumbs on the corners of Wanda’s bottom lip, her eyes transfixed there as Wanda sneaks her hands underneath Natasha’s top on her lower back just to feel her skin. “I like it anyways.”

Wanda kisses her again, hungrier than before, her hands inching higher on Natasha’s back and discovering that she’s braless and so soft and warm underneath her touch. She could so easily lose herself in all that Natasha is and the way that she keeps rocking her hips against Wanda tells her that if they don’t stop, they might end up regretting themselves in the morning. But she so doesn’t want to stop.

“Nat.” She whispers against bruised kissed lips and Natasha takes a long shuddering breath, her hands on Wanda’s shoulders squeeze almost painfully as she tries to regain control and she sits back down on Wanda’s thighs.

Natasha doesn’t answer verbally right away but her expression is entranced as she looks at Wanda, and there is something soft and wild in her eyes, something that Wanda has been wanting to see for a long time but not dared to hope for until tonight.

The entire floor is so quiet tonight that their breathless pants sound so loud in Wanda’s ears. Everyone is in their beds, resting before a new mission in the morning.

When she pulls out her hands from underneath Natasha’s shirt, Wanda immediately misses the contact but Natasha doesn’t let her miss it for long.

Wanda observes in rapt attention as Natasha takes her hands and intertwines their fingers together and she does so carefully that one might think that she’s expecting a wrong outcome. Having Natasha’s soft slender fingers filling in the spaces between her own fingers makes Wanda feel _right_ somehow. It doesn’t feel wrong, far from it and Natasha is smiling this small timid soft smile that Wanda can’t not kiss off of her lips.

“What are we doing, rookie?” Natasha asks against Wanda’s lips, her hands on Wanda’s face keeping the younger girl right there, as if she wants to feel the ghost of Wanda’s lips when she answers her.

Wanda has no idea of what to answer. She has no idea of what they’re actually doing. She’s never felt like this before for someone and she’s not entirely sure that Natasha feels the same way. Tonight could be just tonight or it could be something more. She doesn’t know.

“Kiss me.” Wanda says and Natasha does so with a little doubt written in her eyes, and they don’t let their eyelids fall shut as they kiss this time, opting to look into each other’s eyes as they kiss.

The kiss turns heated in a matter of seconds and Wanda wraps her arms around Natasha’s waist to pull her incredibly closer to her, if only to feel the press of her body against her own.

What _are_ they doing? Wanda doesn’t know. They might never get a real chance at whatever this could be because of who they are. Their lives are always in danger, tomorrow isn’t certain when you’re living that superhero life. Is that enough of a reason to embrace whatever this could be, to never let what this could be go?

Nothing is certain but this moment is and despite everything Wanda chooses to stay in this moment with Natasha’s lips on her neck and her hands cupping Natasha’s breasts over her shirt.

It’d be so easy to fall into this feeling, to give in to this desire but everything feels too fragile to let go quite yet and she knows it, is desperately aware of how wrong this could all go in a flash.

Whatever they could be, they have to build it together, that she knows for certain.

“Nat.” She says, her voice hoarse and her hands in fists as she denies herself.

“I know. I know.” Natasha lifts her head again and she’s breathless. Wanda is breathless too and maybe they’re fighting a lost battle.

“Kiss me.” Wanda says again and Natasha pushes forward, her eyes never leaving Wanda’s and just when their lips are about to touch she hesitates and Wanda loses her breath.

There is so much in Natasha’s eyes, so much that she wants to say but she doesn’t.

“You are so good.” Natasha says in earnest after long seconds of just staring and the words take Wanda by surprise, a raw feeling burns in her chest and she wants nothing more than to hide away from it.

“I’m not.” Wanda says, remembering all the wrongs she’s done but Natasha is right there, pushing closer and her hands keeping Wanda’s face straight, forcing her to not look away.

“You are.” Natasha says, her expression open to let Wanda see that she means it and something breaks around them, something is built too. “You are so good, rookie.”

Before Wanda can say a thing Natasha is kissing her again, this time softer, more tender than before and it feels safe. It feels like home and Star Wars becomes Wanda’s favorite movie even though she still has no idea what it really is about.

…

 


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Training is now a part of Wanda’s everyday job. She needs to be on her best shape because she’s an Avenger now and saving the world is hard work.

She’s sweaty, her arms and legs feel like jelly and she’s lying on the gym floor about to really pass out when Natasha finds her.

“You still with us, rookie?” Natasha asks and Wanda can hear the smile on her tone even before she looks at her fully.

Steve is by far the one that works her the hardest in training when it comes down to strength.  

“Steve is a mountain.” Wanda says as Natasha hands her a towel and agrees with a soft smile.

They’ve been dancing around each other for a few days now, both of them waiting for the other to address the elephant in the room. There hasn’t been any more kissing but there have been three occasions when they almost threw caution to the wind and Wanda’s skin still prickles at the memory.

Wanda isn’t sure about the protocols in the facility, if dating a coworker is allowed or not. She knows that SHIELD kept tabs on these matters before but what they have here is hardly SHIELD. Although she’s fairly certain that the people working directly under Hill wouldn’t take their chances in questioning the new protocols. Hill can be a real hardass and Wanda has only interacted with her a couple of times before deciding that she never wants to be on her list for absolutely anything.

The Avengers are a whole separate wing from what’s left of SHIELD, although they operate in the same facility, together but apart.

“He means well.” Natasha says gently as Wanda dries the sweat from her face and finally notices the tactical suit that Natasha is wearing.

“You’re leaving?” She asks even though she already knows the answer.

“Sam and I leave in five. We have to hurry or we can lose our lead.” Natasha says and even the way she says it makes Wanda feel uncomfortable to an extend.

Steve is running point on a mission that Wanda is not a part of and it makes her feel left out despite knowing that she’s only been in the team for a couple of months and a certain amount of cautiousness is required. These people were already a family way before they knew of Wanda’s existence and she can’t blame them for being cautious.

The sound of the quinjet starting gives Wanda urgency. Natasha is leaving and they haven’t talked about what happened between them and the missions are always dangerous, there’s always a chance that they don’t come back. That’s the job. That’s what they signed up for.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” Natasha is saying and then her lips are pressing on Wanda’s cheek in a tender kiss that screams of unspoken promises.

Wanda doesn’t say goodbye, only taking Natasha’s hand and squeezing it ever so slightly in hopes that she gets everything that Wanda isn’t ready to say out loud.

…

Natasha and Sam are gone for five whole days when Steve’s anxiousness begins to rub off on Wanda.

By the sixth day he’s walking around their living wearing the pants and boots of his suit, his shield resting by the front door ready for a fight while Wanda worries silently and thankful that at least he’s no longer working her to a pulp in training.

Wanda loses count of how many times she’s about to ask him about the mission but she continues to hold back, even though her worrisome might match his by the seventh day that Natasha and Sam are radio silent.

She considers looking into his head, he wouldn’t know and it’d be so easy to learn everything that they’re not telling her but she doesn’t. She wants to earn their trust and be worthy of it. She wasn’t lying when she said that she wants to be a part of the team because this is all that she has left. Her brother is gone and he died believing in the Avengers. This is her family now and she has to trust their judgement, even when it turns her into a worried mess.

This is her family, even if they keep secrets and don’t tell her what’s wrong sometimes.  

Seven days might not seem like such a long time but Wanda learns that seven days can be an eternity when you haven’t heard a single word from the person that you care about the most in the world.

She hasn’t been sleeping well and she doesn’t hear the quinjet landing or the doors being thrown opened and closed in a rush.

She wakes up with the sound of Steve’s worried voice. She’s sitting in her bed even before she can fully comprehend what’s happening, her heart is hammering so hard inside of her chest that she feels tears prickling in her eyes with the ferocity of it.

She throws the covers to the floor in her haste to leave the bed and she rushes out of her room, shoeless and cold, and so scared.

The first person that she sees when she walks into the living is Sam and his bloody face, the tears on his suit, the bruises on his hands. She wants to run to him but Vision blocks her advances only to be thrown to the side as she pushes him out of the way with her powers without even thinking about it.

They’re back.

When she sees Natasha on the large couch she knows why Vision would want to keep her from seeing her and she regrets pushing him away for a millisecond.

Natasha looks pale, her face is covered in dirt and blood, and sweat, her skin is shining in an ill looking sweat. Steve is yelling something from the kitchen, Sam goes to help him and pods are falling to the ground in their desperation to find whatever it is that they’re looking for, and Wanda doesn’t even know how to breathe all of the sudden.

Natasha’s shirt is soaked in her own blood and she looks seconds away from passing out, her eyelids look so heavy. There is so much red and fear takes a fierce hold on Wanda’s whole being without a warning.

“You’re hurt.” She says in a shock, her eyes not really knowing where to look. The gush on Natasha’s forehead is deep, her hands are beaten and the wound on her shoulder is devastating.

“Just a bit.” Natasha says just as Wanda falls on her knees by the couch, hands in the air as if she’s not sure where to touch, what to do. She wants to help but she doesn’t know how and she’s trembling, she’s too scared to even look at Natasha in the eye and see her getting weaker by the second.

Is she meant to lose everyone who she ever cares about? Is her love a curse? She doesn’t want to think about losing another person after losing her entire country just a few months ago and this shouldn’t be the moment to realize that Natasha is already buried deep in her heart but the realization hits her anyway.

There were only a few kisses stolen in the middle of the night twelve days ago. Nothing more.

“It’s okay, rookie.” Natasha says tiredly and she reaches out a trembling hand to Wanda who takes it immediately in hers and squeezes it lightly. They’re both shaking and Wanda grows that much scared. “I’ve been through worse. I’ll be fine.”

Wanda wants to say more but Steve is falling next to her on his knees, his arms full of medical supplies that won’t make much of a difference anyway. They have been working on adding a medical wing in the facility and while the equipment is already there Pepper is still looking for the right Doctors to work among the heroes. Only one could make a hell of a difference right now.

Steve rips Natasha’s vest and suit with his bare hands and Wanda finally sees the wound. A bullet wound in Natasha’s shoulder that is oozing blood like an open tap.

There is so much blood that Wanda has to look away as Natasha groans in pain when Steve presses some gauze on the wound. Sam continues to tell them what happened, as if he can’t believe it either, he’s probably in shock and Wanda grows inmensily curious of what actually happened out there to scare him like this. Who were they facing? Who did this to them?

It’s his rant that gives their secret mission away.

They were looking for Bucky, Steve’s long lost but recently found friend. The Winter Soldier was the mission that Steve was so fiercely protecting from her.

Wanda doesn’t have to look into Steve’s mind to sense his guilt. He sent them on this mission, they did this for him and Wanda doesn’t want to but she understands him so well that she hates it at the same time. Bucky is Steve’s family and you do anything for family. Hell, at this point she’d do anything for each person in this room.

It’s the tears in his eyes that sends Wanda’s mind into overdrive. She can feel her powers buzzing within her and she wants to help. Damn it! She _needs_ to help Natasha.

The fear continues to grow though and Wanda groans when she realizes that she’s not only feeling her own fear but everyone else’s too. They’re all terrified of losing Natasha.

“Wait.” She says, her hand pushing against Steve’s forearm. What would even become of them without the heart of this team?

“I need to stop the bleeding.” Steve says as he applies pressure to the wound, probably not even realizing that Wanda is trying to push him back. “I already called Hill, she’s on her way with help.”

His voice trembles when he speaks and Natasha’s face has gotten paler, the hand that Wanda is holding is now colder and Wanda needs to take action even though she wants to scream because it’s obvious that Natasha has been bleeding for a while. How much blood does a person have anyway?

“Wait.” She says again, her hand more insisting on Steve’s arm and her eyes locked with Natasha’s dropping ones.

“I think the rookie has a plan.” Natasha says through a small smile that’s probably meant to distract them all from how shaky and small her voice is now but Wanda sees right through her.

It takes Steve a moment to stop what he’s doing, still uncertain of what Wanda could possibly do or not. It’s been only a couple of months after all, she’s practically a new addition to their team and none of them can oversee that. He’s right in doubting her, Wanda wouldn’t be trusting a newbie with Natasha’s life either.

Steve moves aside, his eyes locking Wanda in before he makes room for her to move closer.

Wanda doesn’t know what she’s doing, she’s never tried it before but she needs to try anyway. God, she wants to lean in and kiss Natasha’s bloody lips and tell her that is going to be okay but she doesn’t.

“Nat.” The word is out of her mouth before she can stop it and her voice sounds so broken that it makes her feel incredibly exposed.

Natasha’s body is shaking now but she manages to give Wanda a weak nod of her head. None of the them know what she’s signing up for right now but one thing is sure and that is that Natasha is trusting Wanda in this moment.

Her powers feel like an extension of everything that she is, they’re there, a constant presence, like a second heart beating in her chest or another limb ready to grab a hold of whatever she needs.

With a trembling breath Wanda raises her hands, still aware of the way that Natasha is looking at her. God! The things she’d do to keep these eyes open overwhelms her.

She looks into Natasha’s eyes and takes another deep breath, she needs to turn this uncertainty into strength right now and she’s looking at the only good reason for that.

This is not how their story ends. That, she’s sure of.

Wanda closes her eyes, focuses and then places her hand above Natasha’s wound and her vision turns red as she searches.

Natasha lets out this heart wrenching scream that break Wanda all together and forces her to stay focused at the same time because suddenly she’s feeling Natasha’s pain as if it were her own.

“You’re hurting her!” Sam yells and she can see him getting ready to tackle her but she doesn’t dare to open her eyes, even when the tears continue to fall down her cheeks and Steve touches her shoulder as if to push her back.

Natasha’s hand in gripping her forearm and Wanda focuses on the hold, even if it’s painful and Natasha continues to scream and Steve’s hold on her shoulder becomes insistent.

The bullet is in pieces within Natasha and Wanda can’t lose focus if she’s to find every single one of them.

She wants to assure Natasha but she pushes forward, finds all the pieces and then she pulls them out of Natasha as slowly and carefully as she can manage.

“Oh God.” Steve gasps as Natasha pulls in air as if she’s been choking and the pieces of steel fall to the ground.

Natasha begins to bleed profusely again but Wanda is once again right there, her power working inside of her shoulder one more time and Wanda doesn’t know how to heal, she has no idea what healing entails but she wills her powers to heal Natasha anyway.

And they do. She doesn’t know how but they do.

Natasha falls unconscious just as Wanda finishes putting her back together and the silence that falls around them is almost deafening.

They don’t ask her any questions after and Wanda is grateful because she has no idea how she would have answered if they did. She didn’t know that she could use her powers like that and now she understands that she hasn’t discovered her full potential just yet.

She understands if they’re scared. She’s scared of herself as it is.

Natasha sleeps for five long hours after the whole procedure and Wanda doesn’t dare to move from her spot by the couch.

…

Consciousness comes back peacefully. Natasha opens her eyes to find that she’s not hurting despite what had just happened.

The memories after they were attacked come back slowly and with a sense of dread. They didn’t find Bucky, they were too late but they were not the only ones who were looking for him either.

They were ambushed and neither Natasha nor Sam saw a thing or a face.

She gives an experimental roll with her shoulder and discovers that there is no pain, it’s like she was never even hurt to begin with and Sam didn’t have to carry her out of a damn warzone.

Wanda continues to surprise her.

A part of her brain is pushing her to address the potential threat that Wanda could be and that part would be right in doing so. Wanda’s powers are a mystery for them all and they continue to surprise them as they go on. The other part of her brain, the one that is obviously connected to her heart tells Natasha to trust, to trust the girl with the long red hair and soft lips.

She’s not about to enter an internal war with herself over that. No, she’s going to trust this girl because she deserves it, because she earned it.

It takes Natasha a little while to shake herself fully awake and discover that the red light illuminating the living room is Wanda and her powers. Natasha is still lying in the same couch where Sam put her when they got home but there is not a trace of her blood at all.

Wanda is sitting on the carpeted floor, her back resting against the couch and so close to Natasha that she should have been noticed a lot sooner. Natasha focuses on the red tendrils that Wanda creates with the movements of her fingers and she sees what the younger woman is creating in midair.

The red bends at her will and it evolves into an an scenery, an old farm and tall grass surrounding a little house in the middle of nowhere and two kids playing catch barefoot.

Natasha stays silent as Wanda waves her hands in the air and the little boy and a little girl run around each other until they fall to the ground  in a fit of laughter and they evaporate in the air in a lifting cloud of red soon after.

“How are you feeling?” Wanda asks without looking back, her eyes still focused on the spot where they children were running just a second ago and Natasha swallows the need to ask about the children.

“Better than ever.” Natasha says and she means it. She’s never felt as rested or as clean. She’d have to ask about how she got into clean clothes later but for now she is truly okay.

Her life wasn’t really in danger, Natasha has been shot more than once in her lifetime but Wanda had saved her and in the process discovered something new about herself.

“Thank you.” Natasha says and her words finally make Wanda look back.

When Wanda’s big scared eyes find hers Natasha becomes incredibly aware of how much younger than her this girl really is and it scares her too. It terrifies her because she needs her to be okay, she needs her to be reassured, to feel safe.

“I didn’t know that I could do that.” Wanda admits just as Natasha notices her red nose and swollen eyes. Wanda has been crying and Natasha can’t imagine how scary it must have been to do what she did, to just dive into unknown waters without knowing if the result was going to make you or break you.

“But you did.” Natasha says as she sits up and nudges Wanda’s arm until the younger woman turns to face her fully. “You’re amazing, rookie.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing.” Wanda says and Natasha wants to kiss her so badly that she might just end up going for it.

God, if only this girl knew how much Natasha truly wants her, _has_ wanted her for a long time. That’s a lot of power, right there.

“You took a gamble and it worked.” Natasha says, her hands on Wanda’s bare upper arms.

“I’m glad you’re alright.” Wanda says and she finally smiles that soft small smile that never fails to make Natasha feel like she might be the only one on the receiving end of it.

“Me too.” She says, her voice soft as Wanda inches closer, her hands coming to rest on Natasha’s knees as she leans forward a little uncertainly.  

Natasha meets her halfway though and crushes their lips together in a not so gentle kiss that makes Wanda whimper in surprise and appreciation. They’ve only ever done this once before but Natasha hasn’t been able to think of anything else since.

With her hands firmly gripping Wanda’s hair now, Natasha pulls her in deeper and the soft moans that leaves Wanda’s lips sends a shiver down Natasha’s spine incredibly fast. She’ll never get tired of kissing these lips, that’s for certain.

It’s terrifying.

“Nat.” Wanda breathes out her name like it’s the only thing that she can think about and Natasha pecks her lips softly before pulling back.

“You’re a good kisser, rookie.” She says and she’ll never grow tired of seeing the pretty blush in Wanda’s cheeks either.

Her mind takes a south turn -as it always does when Natasha is experiencing something even remotely good- and she remembers her training and all the years that she was taught how to act, how to feel. She was not made to be soft, she was not made to be romantic, she was not made to be kissing pretty girls just because she wants to.

Only she _is_ meant to be doing this, she can tell. She is meant to be kissing Wanda like this, she is meant to be experiencing these feelings because Wanda simply makes her want to be better, a better version of herself and isn’t that what everything is really about?.

Natasha still feels tempted to end this, to end whatever it is that they’re building here but her willpower only goes so far.

“I’m glad you’re back.” Wanda says now between Natasha’s parted legs and hands softly pressed on Natasha’s hips.

The moment feels intimate and sacred, and Natasha’s first instinct is to protect it, to protect them, to protect Wanda and everything that she is, everything that they could be together.

They can be something so good and she can see it. She wants it.

Despite knowing that she should stay away, Natasha can’t do it, can’t even try when Wanda smiles at her like she holds all the secrets in the world. And when Wanda kisses her, innocently and soft enough to steal her breath away, Natasha feels as if she’s capable of having this, of having her.

…

 


	3. Chapter 3

3.

It doesn’t stop.

This thing between them grows and grows and Natasha can do nothing to stop it. One day they’re stealing kisses behind closed doors and the next Sam is calling them out on their smeared lipsticks.

Natasha doesn’t deny it and when she lifts her chin in Sam’s direction in a silent challenge it feels as if she’s defending them, validating them.

Sam is a smart guy and he raises his hands and walks away but not before giving them one of his looks. He’s not someone to hide from, Natasha reminds herself. He’s not a threat.

“I could just erase this particular memory from his mind, y’know?” Wanda says in jest but her words still catches Natasha by surprise.

“You could do that?” She asks and when Wanda tries to back away Natasha makes sure to hold her close. She’s not sure if there’s anything that Wanda can do that’ll scare her away if she’s truly being honest with herself.

“I’ve been practicing.” Wanda quietly admits. “Not with erasing anyone’s memories.” She clarifies and Natasha cracks a smile through all the wander of what Wanda is really capable of doing.

“I’ve been trying to understand this a little better.” She says and Natasha sees the moment that her powers are called and Wanda’s hands become surrounded by red.

“I’m not sure that I’ll ever fully understand it though.”

Her powers are beyond imagination, something that even Wanda herself is still discovering and learning from. She is without a doubt the Avengers most powerful weapon and all Natasha wants to do is protect her.

It’s ridiculous.

…

They decide to insert her powers in their everyday training as a team. Steve works them hard and Wanda becomes a more active participant.

Sam takes it upon himself to teach her how to fly and Wanda isn’t even sure that she can without wings like his at the beginning but none of them doubts that she could if she really sets her mind on it.

It becomes a hard exercise, Wanda dropping from a fifty feet high edge and all of them encouraging her to do more than just soften her fall.

She fails time after time for weeks but one morning Natasha is awaken by an insistent knocking on her door and Wanda asking her to join her in the gym with the most delighted and excited smile on her face that Natasha can’t say no to.

“What is it, rookie?” Natasha asks, still sleepy and dressed only in shorts and a top. It’s still dark out and the air is chilly but Wanda is smiling and Natasha’s heart is doing something weird inside of her.

“I can do it!” Wanda’s smile is impossibly wide and she’s wearing this red pajama set that Sam always teases her about because of all the bears printed on it but that Natasha adores to see on her.

Still a bit groggy with sleep Natasha takes a moment to ask a question that is quickly answered when Wanda’s powers rip from her hands in a strong wave of scarlet and Wanda’s feet leave the ground and she’s levitating steadily, with such confidence that Natasha wonders for a moment if Wanda’s been doing this her entire life.

“You’re flying.” She says, now truly awake.

“I’m in the air.” Wanda laughs as she goes higher and Natasha’s knees go weak. There is not a single movement in Wanda’s body that suggest that this is something new and Natasha is once again amazed by this girl. By the universe that lives within her.

“Get down here.” She says when Wanda continues to go higher and Natasha grows incredibly worried that she might drop without a warning.

“Give me a reason to.” Wanda laughs from above, her accent thick and delicious. Natasha adores the sound of her voice and how delighted she sounds with what she’s doing. Wanda is so contagious in her joy that Natasha can’t stop smiling.  

“Get over here so I can kiss you, rookie.” She says and Wanda doesn’t drop like Natasha is half expecting her to, she comes down with grace that would rival that of a professional dancer. Her toes touch the ground first and Natasha’s mouth is on hers almost immediately.

Natasha doesn’t know when she got so lucky.

…

They train harder than they did before. Tony visits regularly and every time he leaves the compound all of them are left with the need to train harder, even Natasha.

Tony is certain that something is coming and that they need to stay sharp and no one can really disagree with him. Not after everything that they’ve fought against in the last couple of years.

Wanda’s training is coming in nicely, she’s a natural survivor but she can’t throw a punch to save her life.

They work out a schedule to train Wanda in hand to hand combat, apart from everything else that they’ve got her doing for the last couple of months. Now, their days begin at six am in the gym where they work on cardio for the first hour and then the sparing begins.

“I don’t need my fists to win a fight.” Wanda tells them every day. and it always pulls out a smile of Natasha when the reminder is thrown at her.

“You need to know how to throw a decent punch anyway.” Is the same old answer.

Wanda is often on the ground, on her back, when this particular conversation usually takes place, today she utters the words with difficulty because Natasha has her pressed down on the mat with a knee on her upper back.

When it comes to training no one goes soft on her, especially Natasha.

“I don’t need to.” She says and Natasha makes a point of pushing down even harder making Wanda groan underneath her.

“We’ve practiced this. You know how to get out of this hold.” Natasha says and she can feel Wanda fighting the urge to use her powers and send the Black Widow flying across the gym.

Despite making her intentions known beforehand Wanda pushes back with her legs, her pelvis and elbows and manages to lift herself up with her free hand and she can almost taste freedom when Natasha’s thigh is suddenly around her neck and squeezing the air out of her lungs and she finds herself on her back, again.

“Come on, Wanda. I know I’ve trained you better than this.” Natasha says a little breathlessly and Wanda groans again.

So Wanda pushes back with both feet on the mat using all her force but Natasha does not give an inch on her hold. And she knows how much it must infuriate Wanda to know that she could be free if she were allowed to use her powers, but that’s the rule and Natasha needs her to be truly ready before sending her out there.

Steve has been talking about giving Wanda a chance at her first mission, something small to get an idea of what kind of agent she’ll become. It’s the way of things, they train a rookie and then that rookie must go out there, Natasha knows it by heart because she’s trained so many junior agents in SHIELD but Wanda is more than just a rookie and that’s the real problem.

So she pushes Wanda harder than she would anyone else because she can’t even think of anything happening to her and not being there.  

Wanda’s hands come to grip her arms as she manages to sit up the slightest bit and Natasha sees the intention a little too late and Wanda is dropping back, crushing her with her weight and making her scape even quicker by rolling away on the mats.

Natasha moves fast but she hesitates when she catches sight of red in Wanda’s eyes as she looks straight at her and she stops in her tracks just before she hits a wall of red preventing her from getting to Wanda.

“Cheater.” Natasha reprimands but she’s proud and Wanda clicks her tongue as she lays back on the ground, spent and arms open to her sides.

“I keep telling you that I don’t need to throw any punches.” She says as Natasha sits down a couple of feet away from her, also a bit winded.

“What if there is a way to take your powers away that we don’t know of?” Natasha says and she hates the idea but the thought has been in her mind ever since they caught a scientist headset on creating an item able to absorb any abilities that it’s exposed to.

“What if we face someone or something that can absorb each one of our abilities and use them against us? What do you do then?”

“Is there a person capable of that?” Wanda asks and she looks chastized and so tired that Natasha is tempted to end this session sooner, get a shower and eat some breakfast and then go back to sleep.

“We’ve fought aliens in New York and an army of robots in Sokovia.” Natasha kindly reminds her. She doesn’t think that there’s anything out there that can surprise them anymore.

“I haven’t forgotten.” Wanda says and she’s still trying to get her breathing back to normal, her voice now softer though, as it always occurs when someone mentions Sokovia.

“Up.” Natasha calls out as she jumps on her feet, refusing to let Wanda go down that road.

“If I catch another sight of red coming out of your hands I won’t be kissing you at all today.” Natasha threatens and even she can’t believe what she’s saying. Can’t believe that it could be used as a threat.

“You were thinking of kissing me today?” Wanda retorts and Natasha rolls her eyes, she should have expected the wit.

“On guard, rookie. I’m kicking your ass first.”

…

 


	4. Chapter 4

4.

They go out on their first mission together on a wednesday afternoon. Hydra is a parasite and Natasha continues to be surprised by the amount of people loyal to their cause. They’re trying to build themselves up again and Steve is on a mission to not let them. They all are. 

They get to San Diego and get settled before Steve takes point and lays out the plan. Gather intel, report back and burn their facility to the ground. Going back to the basics kind of excites Natasha but she doesn’t mention it out loud. 

Wanda kisses her hard and slowly before Natasha is set to go and it should have felt like it always does, amazing and delicious, and so so very addictive but Wanda was definitely going for something else. Natasha only realizes what when she’s been undercover for twelve hours and she’s still thinking about the damn kiss and the soft meowing sound of Wanda’s moan when they finally parted. 

The mission doesn’t scare her, although it carries it’s risks and being surrounded by Nazzis isn’t exactly the most reassuring feeling in the world. But Natasha knows how to survive situations like this one and she’s damn good at it. What scares her is to not make it back and pick up exactly where that kiss ended. 

Natasha is passing as a new reclute but she’s made on her second day in. She sees so many familiar faces, people she used to train with and people she recruited and vetted herself that she’s a little disappointed that she wasn’t made the second she stepped foot into the building.

She’s not worried when they take her and when they begin to punch her she only focuses on learning them better. She needs them to keep talking and they’ve been quiet for so long in the Avengers compound that the idea of having to escape this poor attempt to subdue her makes her feel alive in a sense.

She does grow worried when the doors of the room where they’re keeping her in explodes backwards and a cloud of red suddenly enters the room and knocks every Hydra agent inside though. With a contemplative nod of her head she recalls missing  the last three scheduled calls after all. 

“Natasha.” Wanda is saying, her accent thick and raw emotion written on her face. The chains around Natasha’s wrists fall undone with a command of Wanda’s hand and Natasha’s on her feet just as Steve comes running inside too, his face the picture of worrisome. 

“I’m okay.” Natasha quiets him and he nods, the frown on his forehead deepens but Wanda has no reservations about getting close and taking her hands to inspect her wrists and then split lip and eyebrow. The silent moment of intimacy speaks volumes and Steve gives her this look that Natasha could have gone without ever seeing on his face. 

“We need to move.” He says before he throws his shield and knocks a guy on the floor that was trying to get his gun. 

Sam is on the chase of the one who’s been running this Hydra base and they are left to fight their way out. 

Natasha quickly comes to understand the real problem about dating a coworker when the bullets begin to rain upon them. 

There are at least fifty Hydra agents, armed to the bones and ready to take them out, and Natasha should be focusing on that but her first concern is to keep Wanda on her peripheral at all times. 

There are far too many guns pointing at them and Natasha can take them, she does take as many as she can but she hears Wanda groan somewhere and she looks back, loses focus for two seconds and that’s enough time for two men to take out their guns and point them straight at her head. 

She’s looking at Wanda though and maybe that’s it, maybe that’s the end of the line for her, maybe she was meant to go out while looking at the face of the person she’s come to care the most for. 

The moment feels eternal, between the men pulling the triggers and Wanda’s own presence falling upon the entire floor like a tsunami wave that even Natasha can feel it washing over her. 

Wanda’s eyes shine the moment the guns are pointed at Natasha’s head, they shine and she rises from the floor where she was knocked down as if floating and the guns turn to dust in the men’s hands, and every Hydra agents is hit with a blast of her powers at once.

Her hair, her eyes, her whole body seems to glow with her powers, a scarlet being of energy she is and the silence that falls around them feels so vast, so devastating after she’s taken out every single one of their enemies on her own because of Natasha.

“Are you okay?” Wanda is asking again and Natasha kisses her, hard and deep, right there. And Sam is informing them on their earpieces that he got the guy and Steve is clearing his throat somewhere behind them but Natasha can’t pull back. 

It might be the adrenaline of the fight or maybe she’s going insane but Natasha kisses Wanda with a raw need to let her know how much she means already and how grateful she feels for what she just did. 

“Come on.” She says after such a long kiss that feels so intimate despite having Steve in the room. “Let’s get out of here.”

Wanda nods, the worrisome still so forcefully attached to her features and her lips swollen from Natasha’s kiss and she looks so soft that for a moment Natasha can’t believe what she just did, what she’s capable of doing. 

“You did good, rookie. You did so good.”

…

Hydra is in the business of not letting go, it seems. Crossbones is a name they’ve heard before and hearing it again after today only makes Natasha want to find him faster. 

“You and Wanda.” Steve acknowledges after they’re done interrogating the guy that Sam brought in and Steve’s poor attempt to sound casual makes Natasha scrunch her nose at him in sympathy. Steve’s a good soldier, not so much a spy and he was never interested in a few lessons either. 

But she knew it was coming and she’s exhausted and still wearing her gear, so is Steve but they’re having this conversation. 

“Yeah.” Natasha nods and then immediately goes for the liquor cabinet. She still has the image of two guns about to blow her head and Wanda rising from the floor like a phoenix enveloped in red, ready to save her and now Steve and this talk. She needs a drink, or ten. 

“I don’t want to say this.” Steve begins and whatever it is, Natasha knows he’ll end up saying it either way and she needs to listen.

“No?” She playfully asks, wanting some of this weight off of her shoulders but he doesn’t smile. 

“You slipped today. I saw it and I know you saw it too.” His voice is gentle and she knows he’s right. There was a reason why agents who were involved with each other weren’t allowed to go on missions together. There was a reason why SHIELD kept tabs on every single one of them before. 

“It won’t happen again.” She says but as soon as the words are out of her mouth she regrets them. It’s a lie and one look at Steve’s soft eyes tell her that he sees right through her. 

“I want you to be happy, Nat.” He says and she’s instantly uncomfortable by the softness in his tone. “I want Wanda to be happy too. She’s grown on me, y’know?”

“Tell me about it.” Natasha huffs and hands him a beer as she zips her scotch. It’s his absurd sincerity and his friendly smile that makes her feel so exposed, his uninterested affection for the people around him, especially for Wanda. He’s always softest when he’s with her and they all know it too. 

“I’ll be careful.” She tells him after a little while and he nods his head, making his messy hair fall on his forehead. He’s still wearing his suit, his shield is on the couch, but he still looks like the guy who cooks them breakfast a few times a week. A bear of a man he is. 

“I know you will.” He says and it doesn’t sound like an order, though she’s certain that’s how he intends it to be. 

…

Wanda finds her in the kitchen and she doesn’t hesitate to embrace Natasha as soon as she’s close enough. Natasha hugs her back and lets Wanda take her in as much as she needs to. 

By now she’s learnt that Wanda is so much more tactile than she could have ever imagined and Natasha doesn’t mind this particular trait, something that she did find surprising about herself.

“Cooking dinner?” Wanda asks, her hands on Natasha’s hips and hair still wet from her shower. Natasha likes the smell of her shampoo and the picture she paints when she looks like this, barefoot and pajama clad, rosy cheeks and soft skin. 

“I hope you’re hungry.” She says just as Wanda leans in to press their lips together in a soft chaste kiss that feels so familiar and  _ it is _ in a way. 

“I am.” Wanda says, her hands now gripping Natasha’s shirt and pulling her even closer to her own body, and it’s a bit needy but Natasha understands the feeling so well. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Nothing happened to me, rookie. Don’t worry.” Natasha assures her and Wanda nods before pressing her lips to Natasha’s temple in what feels like the most intimate kiss they’ve shared so far. 

When Wanda pulls back Natasha misses her and she knows that Wanda is right there, in the same room, she’s not going anywhere but the feeling is there either way. 

She was not built for this and a part of her head continues to remind her of that. She was always a weapon, that’s what she was meant to be, what she was trained for. She was not meant to fall for a younger girl that seems to love her despite their upbringings, despite having known pain better than anyone else around them. 

She was not meant to become this person who is willing to forget her own safety if it meant that Wanda would survive. She was not meant to find love and yet, that’s what this is, that’s what she feels. Love. 

“What you did back there.” Natasha says, unable to keep quiet, her eyes trained on Wanda as she pulls out plates from the upper cabinets of the kitchen. “What were you thinking when it happened?”

Wanda sets the plates down before looking at her and her expression is guarded, one that Natasha has seen in numerous occasions, one that makes her want to backpedal. “I was thinking that I was not going to let them hurt you.” 

“But I’m going to get hurt.” Natasha says, her logic in fight with her heart already.

“I know.” Wanda says and she’s quick to close the distance between them again. “I know our lives are far from normal. We’re in danger even now while you’re cooking dinner and I help set the table. But as long as I’m able and there with you I’m going to try to protect you.”

“Wanda.” Natasha shakes her head. That is exactly the problem, isn’t it? “I don’t need you to protect me. When we’re out there I need you to be at the top of your game.”

“Don’t do that.” Wanda admonishes her softly, as if she can see something in Natasha that she can’t. “I was not going to let those guys shoot you, no matter what the protocol dictates.”

“That’s not - ”

“I’ll be there for you if you need me to. Even when you’re not ready to admit it.”

The way Wanda says those words resonate so deeply in Natasha that she doesn’t have it in her to disagree, che can’t. Since the moment that Wanda stepped foot into the mission Natasha was already more preoccupied with her well being than the outcome of the actual mission. She can’t tell Wanda to block everything else when she can’t do it herself, that’s not fair. 

“I’ll be there for you too.” She says instead and kisses Wanda softly, a peck on the lips that might as well be a declaration of words that she might not ever be ready to say out loud. “Always.”

…

  
  



	5. 5

5.

Natasha is in Florence when she realizes how wildly and irrevocably in love she is with Wanda, and it happens in the softest way possible. There are no grand gestures of any kind, hell! Wanda isn’t even with her, which she’s actually thankful for. 

She’s getting ready to meet one of her contacts when she sees a notebook on her bag, a notebook that she didn’t pack herself and that she’s seen Wanda write in a few times around back at home. Sneaky rookie. 

Her heart hammers inside of her chest when she takes the little notebook in her hands and decides to sit on the edge of the bed to see through it. 

She doesn’t know what she’s expecting to see or read, but when she flips the black leather cover and finds a polaroid of Wanda safely tucked inside, the smile that takes over her face is impossibly wide and happy. 

To think that the mere sight of Wanda is enough to make her smile like this concerns her as much as it fills her with uncanny joy. This is a weapon and her brain immediately goes there. Natasha has made so many enemies along the years, if only one of them ever found out about Wanda… 

Natasha doesn’t know what she’d do. 

The power it holds, to love somebody. There was a time when she swore that she’d never allow herself such vulnerabilities and yet, here she is, already thinking about what she’d do if anyone came for Wanda to get back at her. But Wanda isn’t your ordinary girl either and Natasha knows it, she knows that whoever dares to mess with Wanda doesn’t really stand a chance but the fear is there. 

The picture is one that Natasha herself took a few days ago on the rooftop of the compound while they were on a date, because that’s the person she’s become apparently. She wasn’t the kind of person who goes on impromptu dates and then came Wanda. 

She feels her cheeks redden at the memory of the night and she almost feels embarrassed for herself, and she would if the memory didn’t come accompanied with so much innocence and laughter. 

Wanda had ask her to join her for dinner and there had been roses and lit candles that went out with the first blow of the wind and it still resulted in the best night that Natasha has ever had until then. 

Wanda had gotten the camera from Steve but was still trying to figure out what should be her first object of interest, she was also learning how to play the guitar and Natasha has caught her more than a few times singing in her bedroom, which she found adorable. 

There was a blanket on the floor and peanut butter sandwiches on paper plates and a bottle of wine taken straight from Tony’s vault. Natasha didn’t ask how Wanda got it in the first place. 

In all honesty they didn’t really talk much that night, too busy making out like a couple of teens and afraid to go any further too. But Natasha remembers the exact moment when she took the camera and snapped the picture. 

Wanda was laying on the blanket, eyes glued to the sky While Natasha’s were glued on her face. Wanda’s lips were a bit swollen and her cheeks were rosy, her hair was a little bit of a mess but she looked beautiful enough to make Natasha’s chest ache. It was such a soft moment, the air seemed to still and the moonlight was soft above them. And then Wanda turned to look at her and Natasha wanted to remember the way she was being looked at forever, so she took the camera and clicked just as Wanda smiled at her. 

They took a couple of more pictures but this one, this one really makes Natasha miss Wanda so much that it hurts and she can’t wait to be back with her.

On the page where she finds the picture there is one simple sentence, an order, she realizes. 

_ You do whatever it takes and you come back to me in one piece. _

_ I love you _ , Natasha thinks in that moment.  _ I love you and I will get back to you even if it’s the last thing I do.  _

Natasha takes this order to heart and doesn’t lose focus of her mission for even a slight bit. Whatever it takes, she thinks as she goes from one place to another, telling lies and gathering intel that has been almost impossible to get. Nevermind that this might be the only real order that Wanda has ever given her.

She doesn’t get shot this time around and when she returns to the States she’s practically buzzing with adrenaline and anxiousness to be home. 

Bucky doesn’t want to be found, that much Natasha is one hundred percent sure of. But he’s not invisible to Natasha because she recognizes a lot of her moves in his attempts to leave no trace behind, and maybe that’s why Steve sent her to Florence in the first place. 

…

Natasha gets home in the middle of the night to Steve and Wanda waiting for her on the front door. 

Wanda looks at Steve and hesitates only for a second before she rushes to meet Natasha just as she’s turning off the engine and Natasha is already smiling. 

Damn it, she really is a goner. 

“You’re here.” Wanda says as she takes Natasha’s hands and pulls her close enough to kiss her lips in such a normal way that Natasha’s heart aches at the action because this feels normal now, kissing Wanda is like coming home and she loves it and she shouldn’t, but she does. 

Is it always going to be like this? Is she always going to find every single thing about Wanda lovable? 

She already knows the answer to that. 

“Well, you gave me an order.” Natasha says and Wanda kisses her again a little longer, a little deeper and a little harder. 

… 

Debriefing goes as expected, Steve grows impatient and more determined to find Bucky before he is found by the wrong crowd. The wrong crowd that apparently knows a bit too much about everything that the Avengers and SHIELD really are, which brings them all to the same conclusion at the same time. A conclusion that Natasha smelled the day before. 

“It’s someone who knows us.” Sam says and Natasha purses her lips as she goes through everything that she’s learnt on this trip. The trace is there, she’d recognize it anywhere.

“Do you have any idea of who they might be?” Steve asks her, the look in his eyes a knowing one as if he already knows that she’s got something else to tell them. 

“Rumlow.” Natasha says and Steve sighs, his shoulders sag and he looks down. They worked along Rumlow for so long that his betrayal -more than a disappointment- has actually hurt Natasha and she knows that Steve felt the same way. 

“Didn’t a whole ass ship fell on the dude? Plus, a building?” Sam says. “How is he still alive?”

“We need to lay low for a little while on the search for Barnes. We don’t know if we’re cluing Rumlow in or if he’s actually a step ahead of us.” 

Steve grows incredibly stiff but Natasha knows that he’s been thinking about it. It is no coincidence that they only hear about this Crossbones character whenever they seem to get remotely close to finding Barnes and now that they actually know who Crossbones is, they need to be more careful. 

“We need to find Rumlow.” Steve says as he stands up and fixes each one of them with a look that is both apologizing and demanding at the same time. Natasha aches for him, she knows how much Barnes means to him and he couldn’t be in a more difficult position and it’s wearing him down. 

Steve didn’t hesitate to change the priority of their next assignment because that’s the kind of guy he is and Natasha can always count on him to do the right thing even when the right thing means focusing on something other than Barnes right now. 

It’s four in the morning when they decide to call it a night and Natasha can practically already feel the comfort of her own bed before she notices Wanda and Vision heading for the living.

Those two have been spending an awful lot of time together as of lately and Natasha knows they’re friends, Wanda is with her and they all know it at this point but still. 

She’s not jealous, she’s not, she doesn’t do jealousy but unlike Wanda, Natasha isn’t blind to the way that Vision looks at her and follows her with his eyes whenever Wanda is in the same room. 

“We’re watching a movie.” Wanda says and she’s making grabby gestures with her hands towards her and Natasha has no other option but to go to her. 

If Natasha falls asleep on the first five minutes of Mean Girls she at least does it curled against Wanda on the large couch. 

…

Natasha wakes up the next morning in her own bed and feeling rested. It’s a cold morning and she immediately snuggles close to the heat source in her own bed. Wanda wraps her arms around her as soon as she feels her moving and Natasha smiles to herself. 

This is becoming a habit, sleeping in each other’s beds and waking up with Wanda’s arms around her, one that only makes Natasha dread for the future.

Sharing her bed with someone isn’t that bad to be honest but she’s awfully aware that she’s pushing thirty and this is the first time that she’s ever done this. The having a relationship thing does scare her, as does losing it. 

She’s already in way too deep, she’s at the point of no return and she knows it and it scares her more than she’d ever be ready to admit. Their lives are not easy lives, they are fine right now but they might not be tomorrow. 

The choices they make everyday are not easy ones either, Natasha has had her fair share of fallen outs to know that you can never trust the calm. That one mission that is not everyone’s cup of tea is always around the corner and she was taught to always finish the job. Always.  

“Stop staring at me.” Wanda says, her voice rough from sleep and eyes still closed. Natasha kisses her jaw in response and snuggles under it, her arms wrapping around Wanda to keep warmth. 

“You’re just so beautiful.” Natasha murmurs against her chest and she can feel Wanda’s laughter bubbling up before the sound makes it pass her parted lips. 

“Let’s not leave this bed.” Wanda says next and Natasha is agreeing faster than she thought she would. 

The world can wait a bit longer. 

…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the reviews. Those helped a lot. Thanks.


	6. 6

6.

There are days when Wanda misses Pietro with a passion that burns and burns until there’s not an inch of energy left in her body to miss him.

Today it begins when she wakes up from a dream where she’s with her brother eating pizza in a little restaurant back home in Sokovia. 

They used to go that place on the weekends in Pietro’s motorcycle, it was a small tradition that they kept after their parents died all those years ago.

Now she gets out of bed with a sinking feeling on the pit of her stomach that hurts as much as a punch would. On the other side of the bed Natasha doesn’t stir as Wanda leaves the bed and then the room. 

It’s only five am, everyone is still asleep and Wanda curls herself on the loveseat in the living, her eyes trained on the large windows and the rising of the sun in the distance. She can almost taste the cheese from the pizza in her mouth, she can still hear Pietro’s laughter as she tells him something that happened while he was gone. 

The tears roll down her cheeks without her noticing at first. If he were here he’d already be by her side asking what’s wrong and she’d have no reservations, no secrets. Somehow they always knew when the other one was upset. Now that connection is gone and on days like this one she feels so hollow, like she’s empty inside.. 

“Hey.” Natasha says from a couple of feet away, her voice a bit rough with sleep and her eyes squinted as she looks at Wanda worriedly. 

Wanda sits up but her throat feels too tight so she doesn’t dare to speak. She hadn’t even noticed Natasha. 

The light of day is already chasing away the darkness and the morning chill is rising with it and Wanda is not done crying yet. 

“What’s wrong, rookie?” Natasha asks as she walks closer and Wanda doesn’t want to look up because then Natasha would see all of her pain and she’s not sure if she can explain it. It’s been months since Pietro…  _ died  _ but on days like this one it feels as if she were back in Sokovia and she’d just felt her brother’s heart stop. 

“It’s nothing.” Wanda tries to smile but Natasha is already pulling her towards the large couch where she pushes and pulls until Wanda is securely wrapped in her arms and they  are both lying down and facing each other. 

“I’m here.” Is all Natasha says and Wanda hides her face in Natasha’s chest as she cries and cries until she falls asleep in Natasha’s arms.

…

Natasha worries but she doesn’t hover, and Wanda might love her twice as much for that. 

“Put this on.” Natasha tells her as she walks inside Wanda’s room and waves a black jacket in her direction. Wanda leaves the guitar on the mattress and stands up, her mood already picking up a little bit. 

“This is yours.” Wanda says as she takes the jacket and caresses it’s leather, a smile already forming on her lips despite everything and the immense desire to smell the jacket almost wins her over.

“Like that’s a problem?” Natasha raises an eyebrow in light jest and Wanda rolls her eyes affectionately. “I know you still have my red one around here somewhere.”

Wanda blushes and she remembers the exact moment when she saw the infamous Black Widow ready for battle for the first time and Pietro was throwing a red leather jacket in her face. It feels like ages ago. If he could see her now he’d also be teasing her about it. 

“You’re not getting it back.” She says as she slips the jacket on and Natasha takes it upon herself to adjust its neck around Wanda’s with firm and gentle hands. 

“I didn’t say I want it back. I like to see you wearing my clothes.”

Natasha’s voice is like liquid honey when she’s like this, all teasing and seductive. Wanda loves it. She loves what that voice makes her feel, so it’s no surprise that she’s kissing Natasha right after. 

Their kisses have evolved into pure desperation as of lately and Wanda knows the exact reason why. It’s been four months -and fifteen days to be exact- since they started this and kissing is all they’ve done. 

Now Wanda is more than happy to be kissing Natasha, she loves it and kissing has never felt as good. They don’t have to rush anything, their physical connection feels fluid and comfortable. 

But it’s sounds like the one that Natasha is making right now -this meowing sound that is both throaty and humming like- that make Wanda’s head go fuzzy and wet heat to pool between her legs. If Natasha doesn’t make a move soon Wanda is certain that she’s going to lose her mind.

“Come on.” Natasha says and she takes such a deep breath that Wanda feels her knees go weak because she knows what it means, she knows what Natasha is feeling because she’s feeling it too. “We have to get going.”

“Where to?” Wanda asks but neither one of them makes a move to leave and Natasha’s hands are still gripping the damn jacket and Wanda’s hands are already underneath Natasha’s shirt on her lower back as to keep them as close as they can be. 

“We need to go.” Natasha says, her voice now softer, her eyes firmly glued to Wanda’s lips, her breathing heavy and hot, and Wanda doesn’t wait another second before she’s kissing her again. 

It’s all teeth and tongues, but it’s also a synchronized dance that they’ve mastered by now. Natasha knows exactly how to suck Wanda’s lips to make her moan and Wanda knows exactly how hard to bite to make Natasha’s body tremble. 

And their bodies, God, Wanda could honestly come undone by the sheer pressure of Natasha’s body against her own and she wouldn’t even be embarrassed by this point. 

“We need to go.” Natasha says again and when she looks up her eyes are dark, her lipstick smudged and Wanda is panting, her whole body trembling slightly. 

“Do we really?” Wanda asks and Natasha kisses her jaw, and God, Wanda really likes it when she does that. 

“We do or we won’t be able to stop.” Natasha says and Wanda is already opening her mouth to give Natasha that little push that would have made the difference when Vision crosses the wall into her room and stops in his tracks just inside when his eyes fall on them. Natasha jumps back and Wanda curses under her breath. 

“What the - ?” 

“Vis.” Wanda cuts Natasha off before she can scare Vision off. He’s a friend, the closest friend that Wanda has in the compound besides Natasha and he’s not exactly human, but he’s learning how to fit in. “I thought we talked about this?”

“He’s done this before?” Natasha asks with urgency as she takes a step away from Wanda and one towards Vision.

“I apologize.” Vision says, his eyes not even meeting Natasha’s and Wanda can see his regret as he looks at her. “I’m sorry. I just came to tell you that I tried on the shirt.”

For the first time since he interrupted them Wanda notices that he’s dressed in actual clothes and her mood shifts slightly. She feels oddly proud of him and she smiles despite Natasha’s obvious desire to hurt him. 

“So?” Natasha asks and it’s clear that she’s still feeling frustrated and agitated, Wanda is certain that Natasha is two seconds away from hitting Vision. 

“I see.” Wanda finally says and reaches out to take Natasha’s hand and pull her back. No one needs to know what would happen if Natasha actually went for the punch there. “You look so good.” Wanda says sincerely because he does and it was her idea that he wore clothes, she even got him the blue shirt he’s currently wearing. 

“I do?” Vision smiles hesitantly and she smiles back. 

“You do.” She tells him because he’s constantly evolving and learning, and she knows how important this is for him, still. “About the doors, Vis?”

“I apologize again.” He says and Wanda believes him, she can see the sincerity in his eyes. “I will knock the next time.”

And before Wanda can say another word he’s gone the same way he came in, through the wall and she sighs. 

When Natasha turns around Wanda is already wincing at the horrified look in her girlfriend’s face.

“How many times has he done this?” 

“A couple.” Wanda admits, her hands already on Natasha’s shoulders as she tries to ease the obvious tension gathering there. For all the cool exterior and capability to stay the picture of collected in any situation, Natasha’s jealousy is certainly something that Wanda didn’t think she’d get to see so often. 

“Has he caught you in a compromising position?” Natasha asks, her eyes wide as if the mere idea is terrifying.

“Of course not.” Wanda says immediately. “I’ll talk to him again later.” 

“Seriously.” Natasha says and Wanda kisses her, a bit amused by the whole ordeal despite Natasha reacting this way.  

“You were taking me somewhere?” Wanda prompts and Natasha hums, unamused. Wanda swears she hears something about  _ if he gets to see you naked before I do I swear to God _ on their way out and she smiles to herself as she follows Natasha to the garage. 

…

The moment she sees the motorcycle she’s back to square one. Wanda has only ever ridden with Pietro and she can’t help to hesitate. 

“We can take a car.” Natasha offers as soon as she notices her expression but Wanda shakes her head. 

“No, it’s fine.” She says, her voice tight again.

“You sure?” Natasha asks and Wanda nods slowly. 

They were so used to being alone, they were so used to be everything they needed. Pietro was her whole world and she was his. It often felt like they didn’t need anything else or anyone else to get by, and for so long they didn’t. 

“Wanda, babe. What is it?” Natasha asks and Wanda takes a deep breath before meeting her eyes.

“Pietro’s was a bit bigger than this one.” Wanda says and she sees the realization washing over Natasha so clearly that she almost backpedals. Almost. “He would pick me up after work every night in it. He liked the speed, the wind on his face, that kind of thing.”

Natasha takes her hands and her expression makes Wanda want to smile. She hasn’t talked about Pietro since Sokovia and no one in this country knew him well enough to help her remember him. She couldn’t even speak at his funeral and now she feels like she’s betrayed his memory by not sharing her memories of him but she knows that she can talk about him with Natasha and that is something. 

“It all changed after we got our powers.” She continues and Natasha pulls her closer, her eyes understanding and sympathetic towards her, but not pitiful. “When he carried me I felt like I was flying. We forgot about the motorcycle, it was no longer necessary. So I guess I like the speed too.”

… 

They take the motorcycle and Natasha takes her to a little peruvian restaurant that serves the most delicious ceviche that Wanda has ever had and Natasha tells her about the Galapagos Islands and a mission where she had to pass as a tourist just to catch a Drug Lord that was on his late seventies.

Wanda is laughing at Natasha’s stories before she even realizes that she is and Natasha looks a bit proud but it’s okay. 

As she rides with Natasha she finds out that she can still feel like she’s flying if she holds on tight enough and maybe making new memories based on old happy ones is the best way to keep her brother’s memory alive. 

“Had a good day, rookie?” Natasha asks when they’re in bed and the lights are off, and Wanda is safely tucked underneath Natasha’s chin. 

“I did.” Wanda says and as she looks back up and sees Natasha there is only one phrase that dances in her mind over and over again.  _ I love you, I love you. _ “Thank you.”

“I’m here for you.” Natasha says and Wanda kisses her slow and deep, and knowing full well that tonight isn’t the night for nothing more than that. “Always.”

…  

 


	7. 7.

7.

Natasha’s mouth is on her neck when Wanda feels like she might be having a minor heart attack.

It’s not a bad feeling, not at all. Natasha is very good with her mouth, as she is with her hands and pretty much everything else that she sets her mind on doing.

It’s a very good feeling.

Wanda was practicing how to play the guitar when Natasha walked inside her room with a couple of beers in her hands and Netflix on the tip of her tongue. Both beers are left untouched on her vanity now and the television is still off because the moment Natasha was within touching distance Wanda was kissing her and they haven’t stopped.

But tonight their kisses are a bit hotter, more insistent.

Natasha’s hands are on Wanda’s breasts above her sleeping shirt and Wanda is desperately pulling at Natasha’s shirt and then throwing it on the floor with little care before they’re kissing again and Natasha is doing the same with her own shirt.

Unlike Natasha, Wanda isn’t wearing a bra, she never wears one to sleep and tonight she’s particularly glad that she doesn’t because the delighted look on Natasha’s face when she notices is one that she’ll remember for a long, long time.

“You should see your face right now.” Wanda can’t help to tease but Natasha only kisses her again and somehow this kiss leaves Wanda a breathless mess when Natasha pulls back, a proud smirk on her lips.

The kiss feels a bit different than before too. Usually they’re both into the making out part and a little bit of touching above clothes, but they’ve never come this far. However, Wanda doesn’t feel as nervous as she’d have expected to feel when Natasha saw her half naked for the first time.

It feels… comfortable and right.

“You’re so beautiful, rookie.” Natasha says in earnest and  that voice that never stops to surprise Wanda because of how soft and unguarded it sounds is there. “And your tits are great too.”

“Stop.” Wanda blushes hard and Natasha laughs out loud before she kisses her cheek softly.

Natasha’s lips move subtly from her cheek to her mouth again and it’s like they’ve never stopped, their kissing picks up right where it was left off and Wanda is pushing the straps of Natasha’s bra down her shoulders with urgency to feel more skin.

They probably won’t be stopping tonight. Hopefully.  

When Natasha kneels on the bed -one leg on each side of Wanda’s hips on the mattress- and takes off her own bra Wanda loses her breath for the third time tonight, her hands squeezing Natasha’s waist almost painfully in anticipation.

She doesn’t have the time to duel on it though because Natasha’s mouth is now on her chest and her hands are cupping her breasts delicately as her mouth descends down the valley of them and God! Wanda has never seen anything as sexy as Natasha’s face between her breasts in her young life or felt anything as sensual as Natasha’s tits pressed on her stomach.

Wanda bites her lip so hard at the feeling of Natasha’s hands on her bare breasts that she can feel herself tremble and God, has anything ever felt this good?

“You okay, babe?” Natasha asks and Wanda takes a deep breath as she nods but somehow her hands are resting atop Natasha’s as if her own body was asking for a little break, a little pause and she didn’t notice at first.

The thought should have hit her about two months ago when this need started burning up in her lower belly every time that she so much as saw Natasha but it’s suddenly in her head and Wanda can’t shake it.

She’s never had sex with a woman before.

“I’m ready.” Wanda says and it feels so childish to say it out loud, especially because Natasha is half naked and on top of her half naked body, between her very willingly open legs.

“Are you?” Natasha asks, holding still and eyes dark with want but still focused on Wanda all the same.

Wanda is certain that Natasha isn’t an amateur here and she can see her own need reflected in those green eyes but the fact that Natasha is stopping and asking these questions is so Natasha that she can’t not love her.

“I am.” Wanda tells her because she is, she wants this, she’s been wanting this for months and if Natasha doesn’t touch her she really believes that she’ll fall ill or something, but… “I’ve never done this before.”

“This, as in sex in general or sex with another woman?” Natasha asks easily, never mocking, never judging and Wanda loves her. She just loves her.

“Another woman.” Wanda says softly, her eyes still looking directly into Natasha’s and feeling her cheeks heat up again.

“I’ve never done this before either.” Natasha says, her voice particularly soft this time around and Wanda can’t help to feel confused.

“Which part?” She asks and Natasha looks down at their now joined hands atop Wanda’s naked chest, her thumbs caressing the back of Wanda’s hands delicately, as if a bit nervous.

“Don’t get me wrong.” Natasha says gently, her green eyes now locking Wanda in again. “I’ve had sex but I don’t think I’ve ever made love.”

The word makes Wanda’s chest tightened and she squeezes Natasha’s hands involuntarily. Natasha doesn’t look away and something like fear flashes in her eyes. Fear that Wanda feels too because this, what they have, more often than not feels fragile and not because they don’t care for each other but because of who they are, what they’ve become, what they do for a living and what the world expects of them.

Wanda knows that love doesn’t come easy for Natasha too, much less admitting it. Natasha’s upbringing as a spy is a hard one to shake, Wanda knows only a little bit about it but more than enough to know that Natasha was made to believe that love is a weakness.

“Is that what we’re making here?” Wanda asks with a smile that Natasha instantly responds to, thankfully like Wanda was expecting her to.

“Can I get in your pants now?” Natasha retorts with that awfully attractive smirk on her lips that Wanda simply can’t resist.

“So smooth.” Wanda teases her and Natasha laughs as she kisses her again.

It feels right, to be here with Natasha, on this bed, half naked and making out, so it’s really no surprise when someone knocks on their door loudly and insistently, and abruptly cutting their moment short.

“Maximoff. Romanoff. Debriefing in two.” Steve says from the other side of the door and Natasha deflates on top of Wanda like a balloon that’s just been popped.

“Duty calls.”

Sometimes being a superhero sucks.

…

Wanda wakes up in her own bed and with a pulsating pain on the left side of her face that makes her wince the moment she tries to open her eyes.

“Easy there.” Natasha says as Wanda groans and tries to sit up.

“What happened?” Wanda asks as she lets Natasha push her back against the mattress. God, is her face falling? Did it fall already?

“You got punched in the face.” Natasha says and the tone in her voice is the only thing that makes Wanda open her eyes, despite the pain. She’s in her room, in her own bed and Natasha does not look amused at all. “Hard. It knocked you right out.”

Stark and Rhodey were entrusted with an important mission, one where they needed their help. They were to rescue the President’s daughter after she was taken by a band of terrorists from a party that had already blown a bus and were threatening to blow another one if the President didn’t meet their ends, whatever those were.  

They rescued the girl and they were about to take the bad guys in when all hell broke loose and that’s as far as Wanda remembers.

“The bombs?” Wanda asks with urgency.

“Rogers stopped one with his shield.” Natasha huffs, a bit impressed. “He just covered the blow with it and kept it at bay, barely jumped a couple of inches in the air. The rest didn’t go off.”

“The girl?”

“She’s fine.” Natasha says, an edge in her tone again and Wanda takes her hands to try and keep her calm but Natasha is having none of it, she’s agitated and her hair is a mess, she’s still wearing her tactical suit and there is a little bit of blood on her right eyebrow.

Natasha hasn’t moved from Wanda’s bedside since they got back, not even to change or clean up the small cut on her eyebrow and Wanda -atop of everything- feels sick to have her worried like this.

“A six foot tall brute punched you in the face and you didn’t even see him coming, Wanda!”

“Do you really want me to apologize for being punched in the face?” Wanda asks and she’s not raising her voice but every word that she speaks still makes her cheek hurt.

“No, of course not.” Natasha says and Wanda closes her eyes and presses her fingers into her scalp, if only to keep the pain at bay.

A six foot brute, huh? That’s why her face feels like it’s broken in half.

Wanda feels the mattress dip where Natasha sits but she doesn’t open her eyes just yet, partly because it does hurt and also because she knows what’s coming and she really doesn’t want to see how her own well being affects Natasha.

“You need to stay sharp out there.” Natasha begins, a tired tone to her voice that suggest that she was really here, in Wanda’s bedroom, thinking and rethinking about everything that could have gone wrong while Wanda was not paying enough attention.

“I know.”

“You need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. We’re people of interest. _You_ are a person of interest. Our enemies won’t hesitate to attack you.”

“I know.”

Natasha takes her hands and brings them down, pressing them on the bed and Wanda has to open her eyes, has to face her. She hates to cause worrisome, she hates to fail but mostly she hates the look of pleading in Natasha’s eyes right now.

“Why did you lower your guard?” Natasha asks and Wanda has to answer sincerely.

“I - don’t know. I didn’t.”

Her words might as well have been a punch to Natasha’s gut by the reaction she has to them.

She’s still a rookie, she’s still new and she’s still a weak spot, no matter how hard she’s trained.

“Wanda.” Natasha says, her voice and eyes pleading, her entire demeanor crumbling and Wanda sits up, this time fully and takes Natasha’s face in her hands. She becomes dizzy immediately but she pushes through it.

“I did not let my guard down, Nat. They were going for the bombs and I was focused on that. We had to protect the girl but also the city.”

“They went for you.” Natasha says through gritted teeth and Wanda’s confusion must show on her face because Natasha moves away from her hold but -thankfully- doesn’t leave the bed.

“It’s like they knew that they needed to take you down first to have a fair fight.”

“Oh.” Wanda frowns and deflates. She definitely didn’t expect that.

“We’re supposed to be the shield.” Natasha says and the words seem to surprise her more than they do Wanda though and she doesn’t want to think about what the team went through with fighting the terrorists and also taking care of her.

“I’ll train harder.” Wanda says because that seems like a must now. If there are people out there that know what she can do and might want to put her out first in every single fight then Wanda needs to be two steps ahead of everyone each time.

“Yes, you will.” Natasha says softly and when she lays beside Wanda she pulls her close and presses her lips on Wanda’s bare shoulder silently. An unspoken apology it seems, an unspoken promise.

They don’t sleep that night and though they don’t talk much, Wanda can practically feel the guilt washing over Natasha in waves. She’d never dared to blame the team for this but she can’t protect them from their own feelings.

They’ve talked about this, haven’t they? They can’t protect each other and do their jobs at the same time. What they can do is prepare themselves better, push themselves harder and that’s what Wanda will do.

…

 


	8. Chapter 8

8.

They get another lead on Rumlow just days after the President’s daughter is kidnapped, and one of Natasha’s contacts in Europe spots the Winter Soldier outside a museum the day after. 

A fight is coming and coincidences do not exist.

Rumlow is gone before they can do anything about it. He’s apparently buying big guns but his contacts are dead when the team gets there. 

Natasha doesn’t sleep much these days, she always gets impatient when a threat is looming above her head and Rumlow knows exactly how they operate, he won’t make for an easy target or an easy fight. 

On the other hand, Wanda is on a roll. She’s been a good sport even since she got punched in the field and she hasn’t said a word in the gym while they continue her training, which has become much more arduous ever since.  

No one blames her, of course, she’s still a rookie and this was only her third mission with the team but Natasha and everyone else is worried because the terrorists attacked her first. Wanda obviously posses a threat and word has gotten out about her abilities. 

“Up.” Steve instructs as he jumps back a few steps to keep himself going and Wanda grunts on the mats as she rolls on her stomach before slowly picking herself back up again. “Straighten your stance. Hands up. Again.”

Natasha’s been watching for a few minutes now, which is how she knows that Wanda is focusing more on keeping her powers at bay than actually attacking Steve, which means that she’s already beat for the day, she can’t concentrate. 

Wanda’s back hits the mats with a hard thud after only a couple of more minutes and Natasha shakes her head in sympathy as she makes her presence known. 

“Would you mind?” Natasha intervenes just as Steve is about to continue with his class. 

“No rescues.” Steve reminds her with a kind smile and messy hair and Wanda lets out a deep breath from the floor. They’re both sweaty and gross, and they’d keep going if Natasha wasn’t interrupting them. 

They all agreed to train Wanda as best as they can, just like they’d do with a new agent, put aside all personal feelings and just do their jobs. At least that was the intention. 

They’ve all rescued Wanda from training once or twice in the last couple of weeks. 

“No breaking her either.” Natasha says as she helps Wanda on her feet. 

“No talking about her like she’s not here when she  _ is _ .” Wanda says and Natasha is so tempted to smile that she has to look down and wrap her arm around Wanda’s waist to help her exhausted girlfriend and before she kisses her right there too. 

Steve has no reservations though and he laughs and even kisses Wanda’s forehead before he picks up his towel from the floor and wipes his neck and face. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He tells her and Natasha can’t help to feel immense affection for him at that moment. It’s a wonder they are capable of working Wanda as hard as they do as it is because all of them have a weak spot for this rookie, without exceptions. All it takes is one look from Wanda with those big puppy eyes and they all become mush in her hands, all of them.

Wanda is just easy to love, she guesses. 

“Looking forward to it.” Wanda sasses him and Steve walks out of the gym laughing. “I didn’t need rescuing.”

“No, what you need is a shower.” Natasha tells her and Wanda kisses her quickly with a smile on her lips that might rival Natasha’s own. 

“You like me like this.” Wanda says, a playful and knowing smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth as she sneaks her hands under the hem of Natasha’s red top and squeezes her waist with warm hands, and damn it, Natasha isn’t immune to any of it. 

And yes, Natasha has noticed Wanda’s arms as of lately because there are muscles where there were none before and her abs are getting just a tad more solid and Wanda does paint a nice picture when she’s just worked out a sweat. A very nice picture in deed. 

“Is that so?” Natasha retorts just as she presses her lips on Wanda’s jaw and slowly opens her mouth to plant a wet kiss right there. Her knees might be weak and her skin might be tingling because of Wanda’s wandering hands but admitting weakness is simply not in her DNA. Besides, Wanda’s weakness for jaw kisses is just too fun to play with. 

Wanda’s hands squeeze hard on her waist in response and when Natasha runs her tongue on her jawline Wanda’s whole body trembles. Weakest spot and easiest to find too. 

Natasha wraps her arms around Wanda’s neck just as the younger girl collides her mouth with hers in a searing -slightly painful- kiss. 

It’s nothing like it used to be either, Wanda has grown confident in kissing Natasha and every aspect of this moment screams impatience but Natasha only smiles and opens her mouth a little wider as she buries her fingers on Wanda’s sweaty hair and pushes herself against her body. 

Kissing Wanda’s weak spot definitely pays off. 

In the back of her mind Natasha is annoyingly aware that anyone could walk inside the gym at any moment and they’d be giving a free show just because they can’t seem to keep their hands to themselves these days, and she doesn’t really care. 

Wanda’s lips soon move to her neck, one of her hands is now on Natasha’s breast and Natasha only has the mind to lean back and let Wanda do whatever she wants. 

“Bedroom?” Wanda is asking and Natasha’s skin tingles, she can feel Wanda’s bodyheat against hers and it’s driving her mad. She nods distractedly and Wanda’s hands slip from under her top before she’s pulling Natasha out of the gym with a firm grip on her hand.

Her clothes feel unbelievable uncomfortable against her heated skin and her underwear is ruined, and Natasha can’t wait until they’re inside her bedroom and they can finally, finally do this. 

But they are the Avengers.

There’s an explosion somewhere close and they both stop in the hallway at once and they watch the windows shake hard and the ground shake violently beneath their feet.

“What was that?” Wanda asks as she squeezes Natasha’s hand and the alarm goes off. Steve is already shouting their names somewhere in the flat and all Natasha can think of is… that they’re never gonna have sex, are they?

There is a moment amongst the chaos that erupts around them when Wanda turns around and cups Natasha’s face in her hands and time seems to slow down long enough for Wanda to kiss her softly and Natasha really, really wants to stay here but Vision is flying pass them in a hurry and they have to run too. 

“The compound is being attacked!” Sam shouts as they all run to the back entrance to watch that the back of the compound is in flames. Hill’s operation center. Friday isn’t responding to any of their calls. 

“Son of a bitch.” Steve gasps just as two jets round again and all Natasha has on her is her gun and a couple of knives in her boots. 

Vision hands them all earpieces with an analytic look in his eyes and they’re all fast to put them on before he takes off flying.

This place is supposed to be protected, is supposed to be unknown, is supposed to be hidden from satellites but Natasha can’t voice this out when she can hear Hill shouting in her ear and they have to move. 

Vision takes down one of the jets on his own but the jets are not the only ones attacking. Hill is asking for medical and evacuation assistance, there are people trapped under the west wing of the compound and Natasha begins to run down that direction with Wanda right behind her.

Van after van comes to a stop in every end and men are pouring out, armed to the bones and aiming at anything that moves. 

Natasha hears another crash and looks up just in time to see the second jet going down but Vision is going down with it too and her heart stops for a beat. 

“Vis!” Wanda yells and she’s got her hand gripping Natasha’s top as if she’s not about to let go and Steve is already fighting two masked guys and Hill is still shouting. These guys are everywhere.

Taking a deep breath, Natasha nods to herself and then promptly pulls Wanda’s hand until she lets go and focuses on her. 

“Go. Help Vision.” 

“But Nat.” Wanda’s eyes are watery, her attention comes and goes from Natasha to where Vision fell and if she were to choose Natasha knows well where Wanda will stay.

“Go.” Natasha says again, more firmly. This is an order. “We need to help Hill. There are agents trapped. Go!”

Wanda doubts for only a second before she turns and she uses her powers to take down as many men as she can on her way to Vision. Natasha watches her go for two seconds and then she’s sliding to the floor to avoid being hit by a rain of bullets and disappearing behind some stairs. 

Everyone is shouting on the coms and Natasha goes out of bullets before she can get to Hill. She doesn’t even have her bites on her, a couple of knives on her boots and the gun was all she had and damn it, she could really use her bites right now. 

“ _ They’re going for the base _ .” Steve says just as Natasha runs ahead for the closest enemy she can see and throws two knives with deadly precision before going for the third mark. 

“Kinda obvious, don’t ya think?” She says as she punches the guy’s throat without mercy and then knocks him out with a hard punch that leaves her hand aching. Her small moment of victory is cut short when she has to use the man’s body as a shield though and two other guys come for her. 

“ _ Hill. _ ” Steve grunts and Natasha can hear bones breaking over the coms. She already suspected it. “ _ They’re going for Hill _ !”

“Damn it.” Natasha curses before pushing the dead weight off of her and rolling on the ground she picks a gun and shoots before taking off again. 

“ _ Vision is out _ .” Wanda says through the coms and she sounds winded and heartbroken, and Natasha almosts misses a target. Almost. 

“ _ Incoming _ !” Hill shouts and Natasha runs faster. 

Hill’s wing is in ruins and she and only a handful of her agents are surrounded. Natasha has her gun raised but there are at least one hundred guys going directly for Maria. 

Wanda descends to her right in a ball of red and when they look at each other Wanda frowns as her eyes trail down Natasha’s face. Her eyes are glowing a dangerous red and Natasha feels slightly bad for these guys and what’s coming to them. 

“ _ This is why we can’t have nice things _ .” Comes the voice of Tony through the coms and Natasha huffs a laugh as Wanda raises her eyebrows slightly. 

“We have a situation here.” Natasha tells him just as Steve and Sam join them and Iron Man follows suit. She smiles at Tony’s direction, grateful that he’s here. 

“ _ I can see that _ .” Tony says. “ _ Now, who wants to dance first? _ ” 

The fight is over in minutes, mostly thanks to Wanda and Tony, but no one celebrates. 

…

An old enemy of Fury wants him dead, for real this time, and Hill is gone as soon as they finish pulling everyone out from under the debris, dead and alive. They were right in going for her if they want Fury. Hill is the only one who knows where he actually is and how to find him. 

“This place was in need of an update anyway.” Tony says as he plugs Vision to his equipment that’s set up in the kitchen counter. 

Their floor is hardly damaged after the explosions but it doesn’t feel safe anymore and a sense of nostalgia washes over Natasha so suddenly that it makes her uncomfortable at once. This place is their home, this place means something for each one of them and she doesn’t want to let it go. 

Technically they’ll be back, Tony will have it fixed in no time and they’ll return but it won’t feel the same because Hill won’t be returning, Fury won’t be sending her back after what happened and the Avengers will be operating truly alone. 

“Fury is going dark.” Natasha announces as she checks her phone and erases the last message received. Wanda is standing between her legs, cleaning her eyebrow where Natasha is bleeding.

“You mean he wasn’t already?” Sam huffs from the large couch where he’s currently lying with a bag of ice pressed on his cheek. 

“He’s been keeping touch.” Natasha says and Steve nods, the frown so deep on his forehead that he can’t seem to shake it. He’s not used to this part of their jobs, he’s always ready to help but Fury knows when to lay low is the best call. 

Fury would ask for their help if he needed it, Natasha knows how he operates and he can be a lot of things but stupid enough to not let his pride aside when he’s in danger isn’t one of them. She’s not worried about Fury, she’s worried about these guys and where they’re going to sleep tonight. 

None of them are used to this, none of them have had to find a new roof without a warning in so long or so suddenly. She’s familiar with this part of the job and she has a place where she can always go if her options ever run low. 

“We can’t stay here.” Wanda says as she finishes with Natasha’s cut. She’s still wearing her work out clothes and so is Steve, and Vision is still unconscious on the table. Natasha is bleeding and so is Sam, but they’re all here. 

“Well,the tower is always available.” Tony offers and he hasn’t stopped writing on his laptop since they brought Vision in. 

“Thank you, Tony.” Steve says and while the idea of a whole floor to herself is very tempting, Natasha knows that they all deserve a little break and they should take this chance with open arms. She’s certain that they might not have another chance like this in a while. 

Vision opens his eyes rather abruptly and Tony high fives him just before Wanda is hugging Vision and making sure that he’s okay. Tony will figure out what caused him to drop out of the air like that.

“What about you, Romanoff?” Tony asks and Natasha is shaking her head already, her eyes on Wanda as the younger girl smiles relieved that  her friend is well. 

Natasha knows exactly where to go for a little down time. 

… 

 


	9. Chapter 9

9.

Clint and his family are very welcoming, and the children take a liking to Wanda almost immediately, Nathaniel especially. 

“You’ve never brought anyone here before.” Clint says and he’s trying to be subtle about it but Natasha can see right through him. They’re in the kitchen, the two of them in charge of dinner as Laura and the children show Wanda the photo albums in the living. 

“I know.” She says and they both raise their beers to their lips in sync and mock expectation. It doesn’t take too long for him to break though, it never does. 

“Come on, now!” He nudges her with his broad shoulder and Natasha laughs at the look on his face. “Spill. I want details. Come on!”

The smile on his face gives her a sense of peace that she doesn’t get too often. She feels at home with Wanda, she feels good, wanted and trusted but the feeling she gets when she’s in this farm, surrounded by Clint and his family is quite different, is something else. 

“I don’t know how it happened.” She says and she’s being honest because they agreed to never lie to each other again a long time ago, but it still doesn’t reach Clint’s expectations.

“Bullshit.” Clint says just as the children laugh and Natasha looks up just in time to see Wanda kiss Nathaniel’s chubby cheek with a smile on her face that Natasha wishes she could always keep there. 

Wanda was welcomed right away, there were hugs and happy children around her and Natasha, and Wanda’s nervousness evaporated when Clint kissed her cheek and invited her into his house with open arms. 

“I don’t know what I did to deserve her.” She finds herself admitting and Clint nudges her again, making her stumble a little on her feet and she allows it because she cares for this idiot. 

“You’re really hard not to love, Nat.” He says in that tone that he only uses when he’s trying really hard to be a good friend and not just a little shit that gets on her nerves rather easily. “You’re a pain in the ass but you’re lovable.”

“She’s so good.” She says and Clint looks up too, he vouched for that girl not too long ago. He must have seen something in her that Natasha and the rest of the team couldn't yet. He knew that Wanda was worth a shot before Natasha even had the chance to say a word to her. 

“You’re good too.” He says and Natasha is tempted to open his liquor cabinet, talk about this with a few drinks on her to avoid feeling so exposed, this beer is barely doing it. Her ears burn and she only pushes him slightly hard to get the lasagna in the oven. Sometimes she hates compliments but most of all she hates what he’s not saying out loud.  

They join everyone else in the living as the food cooks and Natasha sits next to Wanda on the couch, and when she kisses Wanda’s cheek she doesn’t feel the immediate need to look over her shoulder. Not in the farm. Not when Clint is smiling like that, his eyes trained on her as he gives her a nod of his head. Natasha is tempted to tell him to fuck off. She doesn’t need his approval.

It’s still nice to have it though. 

When Wanda heard about Nate being named after Natasha she teared up, but when she heard about his second name she did cry and it didn’t help that Nate seemed to take a liking to her almost immediately. Natasha would call it love at first sight and she doesn’t even believe in that sort of thing. 

“He’s so beautiful.” Wanda says, close to Natasha’s ear and arms hugging Nate close to her chest.

“He’s alright.” Natasha says with a shrug and Wanda kisses the corner of her mouth with a smile. She made the right decision bringing Wanda here, she can tell. 

“You pretend all you want.” Wanda says, her accent thick and her nose nudging Natasha’s jaw lovingly. “They love you.”

“I’m quite lovable, thank you.” Natasha says playfully but Wanda is looking at her with those big green eyes of hers as if she can see right through Natasha’s deflection, and for all Natasha knows Wanda might actually be looking into her mind. She trusts her though and that’s how she knows that Wanda wouldn’t do that. 

“You really are.” Wanda says softly and Natasha doesn’t know if she wants to risk making out with Wanda in front of Clint’s children, and Clint. It’d be worth it though. 

“Jesus!” Laura clamors as she takes Nate from Wanda’s arms, all with a smile on her face and knowing eyes trained on Natasha. “You guys can go  _ unpack _ . I’ll keep an eye on the oven.”

Wanda blushes so hard that Natasha can’t help to smile as Clint laughs out loud. No one is being tricked here. Laura winks at her when they both stand up and Natasha can’t choose between thanking her or calling her out on her crap. She does neither. She’ll do it later.

“We’ll go  _ unpack _ .” Natasha deadpans as they head for the stairs, Wanda two steps ahead of her already, eager to hide her blushing face.

“Have fun unpacking!” Clint shouts but Natasha is already hurrying up the steps to throw anything at him. She’ll do it later. 

Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed how badly Natasha wanted to kiss Wanda right there but not Laura. She always did say that Natasha had some of the same tells that Clint does, the real question is, how is Laura able to catch them every single time? 

…

To Natasha’s surprise the first thing that Wanda does when they’re behind closed doors is hug her. 

“Thank you for bringing me here.” Wanda says, her face hidden in the crock of Natasha’s neck and lips brushing her skin and Natasha hugs her closer, her chest warming up with new found love for this girl.

“We needed a break.” She says as Wanda pulls back enough to be able to look at her face, their arms still around each other in a loose embrace. 

“I’m in love with that kid.” Wanda smiles and the admission doesn’t surprise Natasha in the slightest. “I wish I could stay here and watch him grow up.”

“Clint would let you stay if you ask nicely.” Natasha says but as soon as the words leave her mouth she replays them in her mind and realizes what she’s just said. The implications in them. 

“I don’t know.” Wanda shrugs easily and fully stepping back from Natasha’s arms to take off her jacket, unaware of Natasha’s thoughts. “I wouldn’t be of much help in the farm and I like to feel useful.”

Is this what she was warned about? Love is such a complicated state of mind, isn’t it?

Logically, Natasha knows that she loves Wanda and because of this she’d go wherever Wanda went. She’d follow her across the universe if she had to. She’d pay whatever price, she’d do anything, anything at all to be with Wanda. This is who she is now and there are no regrets. 

Logically, Natasha knows that this is exactly what she was warned about, this is exactly what she was taught to fear. 

This is not who she was built to be. She was taught to never let her walls down, to never open herself up for failure. She was taught to be manipulative and destructive. She’s a weapon. She’s the widow. She can’t be thinking about a life with Wanda in the outskirts of some unknown little town where no one knows who they are. She can’t be thinking about abandoning their team and retreat to live a life as normal as it can get after everything that they’ve done and witnessed. 

She was warned to never want these things, she was warned that it would break her, she was warned that she’d only end up suffering if she ever did. 

Wanda is opening her suitcase on the bed, hair a long curtain of brown as she leans down, arms exposed without her jacket and unaware of Natasha’s revelation. 

None of it matters, does it? That’s the bottom of all those warnings. They were always afraid that she found this. They were always afraid that she found a reason to throw away all of their lies, all their manipulative words. They always wanted her disconnected, afraid of failure, afraid to love. 

The truth is what matters and the truth is that Natasha loves Wanda and if Wanda truly wanted to stay here Natasha would drop everything else without a second thought and she’d stay here with her. 

“Is everything alright?” Wanda asks as she returns to where Natasha is standing immobile, just inside the bedroom, and her hands are already on Natasha’s forearms, her big round eyes searching and expecting an answer.

The weight of the world seems to push her down as she tries to speak and she can feel the words on the tip of her tongue.  _ I love you. I love you. I love you.  _

Natasha doesn’t say anything, she can’t, so she kisses Wanda instead, hard and deep. Her throat feels tight and she wants to scream, damn it! She wants to shout it from the top of a mountain, she wants to announce to the world that she loves this woman and she would if she didn’t feel like the entire world would collapse on top of her the moment she uttered those words out loud. 

Wanda giggles as Natasha sneaks her hands underneath her top and she bites at Natasha’s bottom lip lightly, teasingly and she steps back, her eyes trained on Natasha as she walks back, hands pulling at Natasha’s shirt, inviting. 

Natasha can hear some music playing downstairs and she reaches behind her to lock the door before she’s rushing forward and kissing Wanda again. 

Wanda’s gasp as they kiss sends a shiver down Natasha’s whole body and as they kiss, open mouthed and more than a little desperate Natasha still feels like she should say the words out loud, she wants to, she needs to. 

They fall on the mattress, still kissing and gasping for air, and Wanda’s suitcase falls to the floor making them chuckle at their lack of subtlety. 

“God, I love your lips.” Wanda says between laughs and Natasha’s smile is a reflection of Wanda’s. I love  _ you _ , she thinks. 

She says nothing again and Wanda’s hands are on her hair as they kiss again, Wanda’s legs are wrapped around her hips and Natasha is thrusting hers against her. 

Damn it, she’s so wet that she can feel her underwear sticking to her skin and she wants to do this so bad, she’s been wanting it for a long time but she’s painfully aware that they can’t do this in a rush. 

No, when they make love Natasha wants to be able to kiss every corner of Wanda’s body and discover every spot that makes her tremble, find out what she tastes like on her tongue and figure out every single way to make her explode. 

“Nat.” Wanda moans and she’s thrusting her hips upwards too but it’s not enough. Before Natasha can suggest anything Wanda is squeezing her legs and then pushing her entire body up, effectively switching their positions and damn it! Wanda looks absolutely perfect on top of her, red cheeks, pouty and slightly bruised lips. 

“We can’t do this right now.” Wanda says and Natasha nods because she knows. She also knows that she can’t go out there like this and Wanda looks a second away from crying. They’ve dragged this for way too long and it’s not because they haven’t tried. 

“It’s okay.” Natasha tells her, her hands moving to Wanda’s thigh and pushing it to the side of hers. They can’t do this properly but they can surely find some release in grinding. “I got you.”

Wanda’s pupils are blown, making her eyes look almost completely dark and when Natasha lifts her thigh just the slightest bit Wanda loses her breath, her mouth falls open and red sparks erupt in her irises involuntarily. 

“Oh, God.” Wanda moans when Natasha presses her thigh a bit harder against her cunt. 

“Good?” Natasha asks and this is exactly when Wanda recovers her senses and thrusts her hips forward, hard, in response. 

Natasha gasps and her hands grip Wanda’s ass as she pushes forward, lifts her legs a little higher and loses her breath completely. Pleasure quickly takes over her and even more so when she feels Wanda’s hand on her breast and her mouth on her neck. 

This rookie is trying to kill her, surely. 

“Wanda. Fuck!” Natasha gasps and Wanda is thrusting harder, faster, she’s fucking herself relentlessly on Natasha’s thigh and fucking Natasha too as fervently as she can while they’re both clothed and not even using their hands or mouths on each other and it’s crazy, and so, so hot. 

Her orgasm begins to build way too quickly and Wanda is fastly sneaking her hand under her shirt and pushing her bra aside to touch her breast and Natasha has to bite down on her lip to stop herself from screaming when Wanda pinches her nipple slightly, all without stopping her thrusts or the intensity of them. 

“Can you - ? Is it good?” Wanda asks, breathlessly and teeth grazing at Natasha’s chin. 

“Yes.” Natasha smiles and she hurries to catch Wanda’s hair and pull it aside to be able to look into her eyes as her orgasm builds and builds. God, they’re both sweaty messes by now and Natasha loves it. “God, yes.”

Wanda’s proud little smile is adorable to watch and even more so when she kisses Natasha’s lips before she pinches her nipple again and thrusts her hips particularly hard making Natasha cross the finish line so unpredictably that a tiny scream leaves her parted lips before she can stop it. 

Wanda is still going and moaning her name when Natasha recovers just in time to watch Wanda shut her eyes close as her body becomes rigid on top of hers and when her eyelids flutter open her eyes are red again but Natasha isn’t afraid for even a second. That’s how far they’ve come, and she holds Wanda close when she collapses on top of her, spent and a giggling mess. 

“I can’t believe we just did that.” She mumbles after a little while, face hidden in Natasha’s neck and hand still on her breast, like she can’t move and won’t if she doesn't need to. 

“How do you feel?” Natasha asks, her voice coming out a bit rough, still trying to recover her breath. Her hands are on Wanda’s back, keeping her close. 

“God, I feel so relieved.” Wanda admits as she rolls to one side and Natasha can stretch her legs. She definitely needs a shower or at least a change of clothes until after dinner. “I needed that.” Wanda says with a wide smile on her face that betrays the shyness in her eyes. 

“So your first orgasm with a girl was good, I take it?” Natasha asks as she follows Wanda and hovers over her so she can have a full visual of her beautiful happy face because of course Wanda can rock that just got fucked look, of course. 

“Oh, God.” Wanda says, her arms going around Natasha’s neck to hide her embarrassed face and Natasha laughs as she kisses Wanda’s shoulder blade. “It was so good, Nat.”

Natasha leans back and kisses her softly on the lips. Yes, she’d follow this one anywhere. She can see it already. 

“You haven’t seen anything yet, rookie.” Natasha says, promises really and Wanda blushes harder, if that’s possible.

...

They endure dinner with false bravery and Clint laughs all the way through it but it’s worth it. Wanda is worth it and Natasha loves her, nothing else matters. 

…

  
  



	10. Chapter 10

10.

It becomes something else.  _ They  _ become something else. 

Natasha’s history with relationships is one that she wishes she could forget most of the time. A few were short and felt impersonal at times, those always ended in disaster, pain and on the worst case scenario, death. Some were fun, felt right and she even felt like she could fall for someone in her past but not even that one precious relationship can hold a candle to what she has with Wanda in the present. 

Sex is usually just sex and Natasha is not used to see it as something else, she was taught to use it as a weapon, a means to an end but then Wanda happened and grinding happened, and Natasha’s a little more in love it seems. 

Is that even possible? Maybe she’s just grateful for the orgasm, who knows at this point?

She’s never been left wanting more either and now she’s this hungry, thirsty mess that can’t wait to have her girlfriend all to herself because God knows that they’ve waited. And tried. They’ve tried. 

But Wanda… Wanda glows and she doesn’t back down when Clint teases her about her newfound permanent smile, which Natasha finds adorable and way too incriminating.

“I’m just happy.” Wanda says with a light shrug of her shoulders and Natasha can’t help but to smile back and open her arm for Wanda to snuggle against her on the couch where they’re currently sitting on. 

And that is a whole nother thing too, this feeling that makes Natasha’s chest ache and feel full when Wanda is in her arms like this. 

Clint and Laura are sitting opposite them with matching grins on their faces and Natasha rolls her eyes at them before drinking her wine in one go. 

It does feel weird to have Wanda here and to let herself be this open about their relationship. It feels weird and warm, and Natasha still wants to slap Clint’s knowing grin but she’s happy too, and she can always slap him later. 

It’s been a calm and fun couple of days with no training, no avengers eager to burn steam with their fists, no Vision interrupting their time alone and no missions. 

All of that has been replaced with late night conversations with old friends and a generous glass of wine, playful children eager to spend time with Natasha and a chubby baby boy that can’t get enough of Wanda, game nights where they end up building a fort out of pillows and sheets, easy and teasing banter with Clint and the occasional advice from Laura.

The mornings are quickly becoming Natasha’s favorites too because there are no alarms going off, no pressing matters to attend to, no early meetings with Hill. Instead there’s only Wanda and her sleepy kisses, her wandering hands and her warm body against Natasha’s as they struggle to get out of bed.

This works and Natasha knows it, she knows that she’s found something good and unique, and she wants to protect it with everything that she has, with everything that she is. 

“I  had to carry his heavy ass across the street, back to cover.” Natasha huffs, interrupting one of Clint’s most prideful anecdotes about one of their missions in Colombia and Laura snorts beside him before hitting him with a pillow in jest. She must know this story by heart already. God knows that Natasha has heard it more times that she can count.  

“Excuse me!” Clint all but shouts as he points a finger in her direction and Wanda laughs when that’s all he has to say. 

“They were selling arepas.” He says after a bit with a serious face that’s meant to explain everything and Natasha hums, her mind going back to those delicious arepas and Wanda laughs a bit louder. They were a little ridiculous back then and Clint was -more often than not- a little careless but they worked and they had fun, and they always finished the mission together. Whatever that was, they always had each other’s backs. 

“So you’re saying that you got shot in the arm because you were hungry?” Wanda asks and Natasha hugs her a bit closer to hide her face in Wanda’s hair as Clint laughs nervously. 

“Yeah, well - It was a lot more complicated than that.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Natasha tells him and hearing his laughter is always good but hearing Wanda’s along with his is something else entirely. 

…

Rogers is in London and he sends Natasha pictures constantly. Wanda facetimes him every night when it’s just the two of them in the bedroom. Sam is taking his vacation very seriously and he sends Wanda a picture of him in the pool in the Stark Tower with a grumpy Tony in the background. 

Vision on the other hand spends all of his time with Stark and his texts consist on telling Wanda how much he misses her advice on how to dress appropriately and the occasional update accompanied by pictures of his new wardrobe altogether. 

Natasha is not jealous, she’s not, truly. Surprisingly, she has even begun to like the Vision and his affinity to keep Wanda safe. 

Stark on the other hand is being a pain. He wants them all back as soon as possible. It’s been a whole week, he says. And he has plans and new suits for Natasha to try on, he’s made improvements in Captain’s suit and he’s been working on Sam’s wings too. Tryouts should be done before the world actually needs them, he says, and Natasha hates his logic. 

He’s right and it’s obvious that he hasn’t taken a break since the facility was attacked. 

…

Laura is taking the children to her mother’s house for the weekend and they are all up at the crack of dawn to say their goodbyes since they’ll be gone come sunday morning and they won’t be seeing them again. Natasha makes promises to her favorite kids and Wanda does too. They’ll visit more often and Laura is holding them to that. 

Natasha’s heart has always been with this family, with these kids and their parents, and it wasn’t easy to grow close because they weren’t supposed to exist and this part of her life has constantly felt like a dream more than a reality. She’s seen them grow and she might not have been here as often as she’d have liked but parting from them consistently pains her. 

Wanda tears up when Nate turns in his mother’s arms to look at her while reaching his arms out for her and Natasha quickly hugs her from behind. 

“We’ll come back?” She asks Natasha in such a small voice that Natasha’s heart aches. Wanda is a part of this family now too and she couldn’t have predicted a better outcome. 

“Of course.” Natasha says, her arms around Wanda’s slim waist and her lips grazing Wanda’s shoulder blade. “Poor Laura needs her fix of adult company or else she’d probably kill Clint.”

Wanda huffs a laugh just as Clint appears in the doorway with a backpack and his fishing tackle, and being the little shit that he is he announces that he’s going fishing and he won’t be back till late in the afternoon.

Natasha glares and he winks at her, his eyes glinting with morbid amusement and Natasha is tempted to follow him, push his ass to the ground and maybe do some damage to his legs but sensing her anger he’s even quicker to make his escape. 

“What was that about?” Wanda asks as she turns around in Natasha’s arms. She’s still wearing her red set pajamas and her hair is untamed, her face clean of any make up and Natasha is enamoured to say the least. She likes them like this, scrub clean of the outer world and real, just the two of them. 

“Nothing, really.” Natasha quickly says and looks away because how can she explain that Clint is rooting for them to have sex in his house while he’s out fishing? She can’t. “Breakfast?”

“Sure.” Wanda says and there’s a tiny smile pulling at her lips that makes Natasha take pause.

“What?”

“Nothing, really.” Wanda says and she shrugs lightly as she moves from Natasha’s arms and walks inside the house. 

Nothing really escapes Wanda, does it? She might be the youngest among the team but she’s not naive, and she’s definitely not innocent. Natasha likes her layers and maybe today she’ll get to see a new one, a long awaited one. 

_ Get in here _ . A voice says in her head when she’s still standing where Wanda left her a few minutes later and it takes Natasha a moment to recognize what that voice truly was. 

“Did you just speak to me telepathically?” Natasha asks as soon as she’s in the kitchen and Wanda is already busy at the stove.

“You mean that worked?” Wanda asks but she doesn’t seem surprised that it did, judging by the nervous but not at all subtle smile in her tone. 

“Yeah.” Natasha says, a little confused. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

“Vision and I have practiced, yes.” Wanda admits and Natasha’s stomach sinks a little bit. 

“Right.” Natasha says in a tone that Wanda immediately picks up on. Ok, maybe she’s still a bit jealous of the guy. 

“Nat.” Wanda calls her but Natasha occupies herself with serving coffee in two cups and putting out plates where Wanda is quick to serve the eggs she was cooking before wrapping her arms around Natasha’s neck and making her stop all her ministrations. “Natasha, look at me.”

“You know, I was starting to like the guy.” Natasha says as she settles her hands on Wanda’s waist. 

“He’s my friend.” Wanda tells her, her eyes sincere and a bit amused. 

“Right.”

“And I’m all yours.” Wanda says in a low tone that makes Natasha truly take pause immediately. “I’m only yours.”

“You are?” Natasha asks, her breath coming out short as she wraps her arms around Wanda and pulls her closer to her body.

“Yes.” Wanda whispers against her lips and when they kiss Natasha groans in relief that is quickly replaced by raw desire when Wanda’s hands pull lightly at her hair. “Only yours.” Wanda says, her eyes darkening and Natasha body trembles at the sight.  

Their next kiss is still soft and slow, deep enough to make Natasha lose her breath and for Wanda to meowl her disappointment when they pull back. 

“You’re not afraid?” Wanda asks, her voice barely audible and Natasha pecks her lips, never breaking eye contact. She knows exactly what Wanda is asking and she’s not truly surprised when the answer pops in her head at once. 

“I trust you.” She answers as Wanda brings her hands to the top of Natasha’s head and combs her hair back, letting her fingernails graze her scalp as she does so. She usually does this when they’re lying in bed and Natasha’s head is resting on her lap as they talk about nothing and everything. 

“That’s not what I asked.” Wanda says, her voice still soft and Natasha kisses her again. 

“You don’t scare me, rookie.” She says and Wanda smiles, her eyes shining with pure affection and Natasha’s heart breaks and pulls itself back together for this girl, for these eyes, for these lips, for this heart. “I trust you.”

“I - ” Wanda stops herself, gasps the words back inside her mouth and instead of saying what they both know she was going to say she kisses Natasha and there’s nothing soft or slow about it either. 

Damn it! Natasha can practically taste that declaration in her own tongue and she wants to say it too. Oh, she wants to say it so badly but right now, right now she kisses Wanda with need.

They have the house to themselves but Natasha doesn’t think that she can wait another minute and by the frantic way that Wanda is beginning to undress her, she can’t wait either. 

Surprisingly, is Natasha’s back the one that hits the kitchen wall with Wanda’s mouth attached to her neck and hands on her ass that squeeze and pull until Natasha is hooking a leg around Wanda’s hips as her own hands desperately grab at Wanda’s sleep shirt to  take it off. 

Natasha’s breath is short and her chest is heaving, and damn it, she loses all sanity when she’s met with Wanda’s bare chest after she throws her sleeping shirt to the ground. 

“You’re killing me.” She murmurs, making Wanda smile and Natasha pulls her with a firm hand on the back of her neck and she kisses her passionately. Wanda groans when Natasha cups her breasts and squeezes, not so gently.

But Wanda’s hands are already on Natasha’s back, reaching for the hook of her bra and she lowers her leg to the ground again, if only to help Wanda take off the offending item and it’s marvelous to watch this moment of Wanda’s life, the look on her face when Natasha’s breasts are finally uncovered in front of her is one that Natasha will never forget. 

“You can take a picture later.” Natasha teases her and Wanda is licking her lips when she looks up to meet her stare, a silent question in her eyes. “Go on.” Natasha encourages her but Wanda still takes her sweet time. 

As much as Natasha is dying to be touched she remains immobile, for Wanda’s sake because this is Wanda’s first time with a woman, her first time seeing boobs and she’s probably wondering what to do with them. It doesn’t help that Natasha’s hands are on Wanda’s breasts either. Damn it! They are resembling teens at this point. 

Just a few days ago Wanda was fucking Natasha in Clint’s guest bedroom with abandon. Granted, they were wearing all their clothes and grinding is still fucking, right? Right. 

So inside her own head Natasha is that she doesn’t realize what Wanda is truly aiming for but when she feels a warm pair of lips enveloping her nipple Natasha’s moan can only be described as unholy. 

“Oh, fuck.” Natasha gasps for air as Wanda switches between her breasts with her mouth and Natasha’s hands move to grip her shoulders.

It doesn’t take long before Wanda gains confidence either and soon she’s sucking on Natasha nipples as her hands squeeze and touch every single inch of Natasha’s exposed skin. 

Oh, Natasha can feel her panties pooling with her own growing need as Wanda takes her time on her breasts and then, when Wanda finally parts from her chest and looks up Natasha doesn’t waste a single second before she’s pulling her in for a deep searing kiss. 

“Was that - ? Was that okay?” Wanda asks, a bit nervous and Natasha wants to laugh because her whole body is answer enough.

“Do you want to feel or should I try to explain it?” Her own voice comes out sounding low and husky, and Wanda’s eyes widen as she looks down between their bodies. 

Wanda’s hands are shaking slightly as she places them on Natasha’s waist and Natasha’s knees are about to give out on her but she maintains eye contact with sheer determination just to see Wanda’s reactions. 

“I want to feel.” Wanda sighs against Natasha’s lips and when her fingers trace the hem of Natasha’s sweatpants they’re both shaking with anticipation. 

Natasha’s nails are digging on Wanda’s neck as the younger girl finally, finally pushes her hand down Natasha’s pants and panties. 

The first graze of fingers against her clit have Natasha throwing her head back against the wall. 

“You okay?” Wanda asks, concerned and Natasha holds her hand in place just when she’s about to pull it out. 

“Yes. I’m fine.” She groans out and Wanda moves her fingers, which ends up being incredibly easy thanks to Natasha’s wetness but her inexperience is just as easy to feel too. 

“You’re so wet.” Wanda says, sounding surprised and awed and Natasha nods as she grinds gently on Wanda’s fingers. 

“You see, rookie?” Natasha says, her grip on Wanda’s shoulder a firm one as she pulls her even closer. “That’s how good you were being with your mouth.”

Wanda groans and kisses Natasha roughly, her fingers now moving lower down Natasha’s slit and gathering her wetness before sliding back up again to rub her clit with earnest. 

“Oh, fuck!” Natasha gasps, pulling back from the kiss and throwing her head back again. Wanda’s mouth is on her neck immediately and Natasha can feel teeth and there will definitely be a mark but she doesn’t care right now.

She can’t care because Wanda’s fingers are rubbing circles around her clit while her other hand is on Natasha’s ass, squeezing and pulling her impossibly close and now her mouth is on Natasha’s left breast and is all too much, way too much. 

“Wanda.” She gasps her name just as Wanda’s fingers play at the entrance of her cunt, teasing her and still shy. 

“I’ve never - ” Wanda says and Natasha kisses her hard before taking her own hand to Wanda’s and applying pressure to let her know exactly what she wants. 

Wanda’s fingers are so delicate the moment she enters Natasha, so delicate that Natasha almost bursts with desire because she’s standing on the edge and Wanda is holding her there deliberately, most definitely without even knowing it. 

“You’re doing great.” Natasha tells her and Wanda nods before she begins to thrust her fingers in and out experimentally, her eyes never leaving Natasha’s as she does so and the stretch of her fingers makes Natasha gasp for air and thrust her hips in tandem with Wanda’s wrist. 

And maybe is the fingers inside of her or the hand on her ass pulling her closer to her realise or maybe it's just Wanda’s eyes as they lock her in but Natasha’s orgarsm builds and explodes so quickly that she doesn’t even have the time to prepare herself for when it hits her. 

She does see Wanda’s surprised smile though, even if her legs are done for. 

“Was that - ?” Wanda asks, her arms now around Natasha’s waist, keeping her up and Natasha wants to laugh so bad because she’s been picturing this for months and none of her fantasies ever ended with herself a trembling mess with weak legs and Wanda the one grinning proudly. 

“I thought you said you were new at this.” Natasha says and Wanda’s blush spreads to her chest as she helps Natasha inside the living. 

The fort they built with the kids the night before is still in place and that’s where Wanda takes her, lying her down carefully on the sheets. 

“I am new at this.” Wanda laughs as they lay together. Wanda’s hand now resting on Natasha’s lower belly and her smile so wide that Natasha just has to kiss it off. 

It takes Natasha a couple of minutes of lazy kisses and sweet caresses to recover but when she does she’s quick to pin Wanda against the mountain of pillows. 

“My turn.” 

… 

 


	11. 11

11.

The moment Natasha switches their positions with a confident smirk on her lips, Wanda is quick to response in kind. 

“My turn.” Natasha says and Wanda pulls her down for a kiss that is both the dirtiest, messiest kiss of her life and also the most perfect. 

“It was about damn time.” She says in jest against Natasha’s lips and Natasha squeezes her waist in response, her fingers itching dangerously close to her ribs, a rather ticklish spot of hers. 

“You keep that up.” Natasha threatens lightly and Wanda’s smile widens. She should be a nervous mess but none of this feels wrong with Natasha and Wanda has never felt like this during sex. All she feels is excitement and not the usual dread that comes with allowing herself to be this vulnerable with someone. 

Sex has never been a priority in Wanda’s life, which is why she can count her sexual experiences with one hand only. In fact, sex was never at the forefront of her thoughts until she and Natasha got together and then, well...

“I like your smile, rookie.” Natasha says and she presses a finger to Wanda’s lips, their eyes connected and Wanda kisses that finger out of instinct before parting her lips and taking it in to give it a gentle suck. 

Natasha’s breath catches and her eyes darken at the sight. Her hips thrust involuntarily against Wanda’s and Wanda parts her legs further apart, her hands on Natasha’s bare back as their bodies slide even closer together. 

“You’re killing me.” Natasha groans for the second time today and Wanda licks her finger up before letting it go with one last kiss pressed on the fingertip. Natasha’s mouth is on hers instantly, her tongue invasive and dominant, and for the first time Wanda truly feels like an inexperienced girl in the hands of a veteran. 

Natasha’s mouth quickly moves from her lips to her jaw, making Wanda’s body shiver at the contact. Her hands are cupping Wanda’s breasts, squeezing and pushing them together as Natasha lowers her mouth to them with frantic precision.

Wanda’s hands move to Natasha’s hair, her breathing now more elaborate than before as Natasha sucks one of her nipples inside of her mouth before switching to the other, her hands never stopping, her fingers squeezing and pulling. 

“You’re okay?” Natasha asks, head rising suddenly and  Wanda is nodding even before she can fully process the question. 

Natasha only smiles before she kisses her jaw again but Wanda is once again pulling her up and kissing her properly. God, she’s completely soaked and she can feel her own cunt pulsating in her entire body with each breath that she takes.

“Nat.” She gasps when they pull back and Natasha pecks her lips softly, a soft smile on her lips. 

“I got you, rookie.” She says easily and then she’s kissing a path down Wanda’s body, taking her time with her breasts again before she’s kissing her belly and moving lower. 

The tickling sensation of Natasha’s lips on her lower stomach makes Wanda take pause because she thinks she knows what Natasha is aiming for and that does make her a little nervous. 

“Still okay?” Natasha asks, her fingers now dipping on the waistline of Wanda’s pants and always observant. 

“I’m okay.” Wanda breathes out, her throat aching and her hands squeezing the pillows on her sides. As always though, Natasha can feel her slight hesitation and she’s hovering above her in a second, until they’re face to face.

“We can always stop.” Natasha suggests and Wanda’s chest fills up with new appreciation for her. She wants this. Natasha wants this. God! Wanda can still feel Natasha’s juices in her fingers and that’s almost enough to drive her mad with want. 

“Don’t you dare stop.” Wanda says and Natasha grins, kisses her and then her hands are pushing down Wanda’s pants and panties right along with them. 

Whatever hesitation Wanda might have felt in this moment is quickly replaced with wonder when Natasha also undresses herself just as quickly. 

“Wow.” The word is out of her mouth before she can even attempt to think it but even when she thinks about it she does believe that there are no words to describe Natasha in all her glory. Still, the tries. “You’re so beautiful.” Wanda says, sitting up as Natasha kneels between her legs.

“You’re one to talk.” Natasha smirks, her lips look a bit swollen and raw and Wanda has never seen her looking more beautiful. 

God, Wanda loves her. Wanda loves her so much and she wants to tell her, but isn’t it a bit too soon to say such a thing? 

“Kiss me.” She says instead and Natasha moves closer, her hands coming to cup Wanda’s face as she leans down to kiss her. 

The moment her back touches the pillows again Wanda’s mind goes into overdrive because Natasha’s naked body slides right between her legs and Wanda can feel every inch of Natasha and it’s the hottest, sexiest feeling she’s ever felt. 

Natasha’s mouth leaves her lips to kiss her cheeks and then her chin, her neck, her collaborne and Wanda wants to touch her but Natasha is pushing her arms above her head against the pillows and keeping them there with one hand as she uses the other one to run her nails down Wanda’s torso. 

“Nat.” Wanda groans, her hips bucking against Natasha’s in a futile attempt to find some sort of release but Natasha only smiles back at her. 

“You’re mine, remember?” Natasha says and God, the word shouldn't make Wanda feel like this. 

“Yes.” Wanda gasps just as Natasha’s mouth makes contact with her under breast and she frees her hands to fumble her breasts in earnest. 

Biting her lip, Wanda can only close her eyes and try to breathe as Natasha’s mouth travels south and God! She’s almost heaving at this point, she’s aching to be touched and Natasha is taking her sweet time in kissing every inch of her body. 

Not that Wanda minds, she’s still surprised to see this side of Natasha. This romantic, bigger than words side of her that always cements her feelings for the older woman. 

The moment drags on until Wanda can’t think of anything else than Natasha’s lips, Natasha’s tongue, Natasha’s hands and God, no one has ever kissed this much of her before. No one has ever pressed their lips to Wanda’s belly, to her waist, her hips, her legs, her thighs. 

“Oh, God.” Wanda gasps when Natasha’s mouth makes contact with her inner thigh, her hands going immediately to Natasha’s short red hair and her eyes snapping open to see the most erotic sight she’s ever seen before. 

“Oh, God.” She moans when Natasha kisses a path from her inner thigh to her navel, her green eyes locking Wanda in as she begins to move lower and lower. 

Natasha’s tongue dips right between her legs, making contact with her clit and Wanda’s head falls back, her back arching at the most delicious and anticipated feeling. Natasha’s hand takes her hand away from her hair only to intertwine their fingers together as she pushes her tongue a bit deeper and Wanda squeezes her hand, a moan ripping from her lips as she lets her other hand fall to a pillow behind her head. 

“Nat. Oh, fuck!” Wanda moans when Natasha uses her free hand to run her fingers down her slit as her mouth sinks deeper into Wanda’s heat. She’s not only using her tongue anymore, she’s using her teeth, her lips and sucking on Wanda’s clit with earnest. 

Wanda has been on edge since the moment she touched Natasha in the kitchen and even more so when she saw her finish in her arms. Now Wanda is experiencing something that she hasn’t before and she can’t explain it. 

Natasha’s fingers are now sliding up and down her slit, coating themselves in Wanda’s wetness as Natasha eats her out as if she were the last meal on earth and Wanda is one step away from madness. 

“Nat. I need - ” Wanda moans and she’s surprised by her own words. 

“What do you need, babe?” Natasha asks her and when she looks up Wanda can see her chin shining and she knows exactly why and she only pulls on Natasha’s hair to kiss her wildly because the inexplicable need to taste herself on her girlfriend’s tongue wins over her sanity. 

She doesn’t know what to expect but when Natasha’s tongue enters her mouth and she tastes herself in it Wanda becomes a moaning mess, a twisting needy mess and she wasn’t expecting that it all. 

“I got you.” Natasha says against her lips and Wanda kisses her again, her hips bucking and Natasha’s responding in kind. 

When Natasha makes her way down her body again Wanda feels like she’s about to explode. Natasha goes right back to eat her out, making her moan louder but this time she’s also using her fingers and slowly entering Wanda, stretching her just right and it’s all too much. 

It’s all too damn much. Natasha is sucking on her clit, two of her fingers are buried deep into Wanda’s cunt and her free hand is kneading her breasts, fingers pinching her nipples and Wanda is coming with a loud cry and Natasha’s name on the tip of her tongue. 

Eyes shut close and chest heaving, Wanda is aware that Natasha is still lapping at her with soft strokes of her tongue and her body is still trembling, and she’s fairly certain that this was her actual first orgasm in her life. 

Natasha’s hands are on her hips now, trying to keep her steady, fingers wet with her cum and when Wanda opens her eyes Natasha finally stops all ministrations. 

“Still with me, rookie?” Natasha asks with a devilish smirk on her shining lips and Wanda laughs and laughs, and Natasha climbs back on top of her to kiss her silly and they’re okay, they’re comfortable, they’re still them. 

“That was amazing.” Wanda says as Natasha rolls to lay beside her, their arms around each other still and Wanda’s hand on her hair. 

“I know.” Natasha says with a soft smile as a dull and wonderful pain makes itself known between Wanda’s legs. 

“I want to try something now.” Wanda says as she slides her leg between Natasha’s before she pushes her until she’s on her back and she’s on top of her. 

Natasha is still so wet between her legs, her juices coat Wanda’s thigh immediately and she’s certain that Natasha is feeling her own wetness in her thigh because this turns Wanda on so much that she wouldn’t be able to explain it, really. But the thought of working them both up to an orgasm while she’s on top is all she’s been able to think about since the day they did this with their clothes on and now that they’re naked the feeling is a hundred times better. 

“Wanda.” Natasha whispers her name, her hands on Wanda’s hair as she bucks her hips up, her eyes falling close and her lips parting in a silent cry that Wanda feels in the pit of her stomach. 

Natasha’s pleasure is enough to make Wanda thrust her hips forward and within seconds she’s fucking Natasha’s leg purposefully. God! Is so hard to focus when Natasha’s thigh is so deliciously fucking her back but Wanda sure tries. 

This orgasm builds steadily but faster than the last and Wanda kisses Natasha as her legs and arms burn from the exertion and their bodies rub against each other in such a sinful way that Wanda becomes instantly addicted to. 

“Fuck. You’re so hot on top.” Natasha moans and Wanda smiles as she presses her lips to her neck and sucks hard as she feels herself getting close. 

“Are you - ?” Wanda’s question is cut off when Natasha’s nails dig on her back and she arches up on the mattress as she comes on Wanda’s thigh and the sight is enough to send her over the edge too. 

Natasha wraps her arms around her when Wanda collapses on top of her and they ride out their orgasms with soft bucks of their hips and lazy kisses. They’re both sweaty messes now and they love it. 

“So.” Wanda says after a little while, when their breathing has gone back to normal. “You like me on top.”

“I do.” Natasha confirms with such a sexy smile on her lips that Wanda kisses right off of her.

“Good.” Wanda says with a nod. “I’m just glad we finally did it.” Natasha burst out laughing at that and Wanda smiles proudly. 

“Me too, rookie. Me too.” Natasha agrees. 

They decide to take full advantage of this time alone and they go for another round before they go back to the kitchen for breakfast, but then they go right back to it. They do have a lot of time to make up for after all. 

… 

When Clint returns -late in the afternoon like he promised- Natasha throws him one warning look before he smirks ignoring whatever red bells she’s obviously ringing and she groans. 

“You guys finally got laid?” Wanda blushes and turns around to meet Natasha’s devilish stare. 

“All over this place, actually.” Natasha smirks back and without missing a beat and she enjoys the look of pure horror on his face when he surveys his living and kitchen with wide eyes. 

“If I were you, I’d move. This place is ours now.”

“Okay. I deserve that.”

… 


	12. 12.

12.

“Take care of her.” Clint tells Wanda when Natasha is checking the laundry room one last time. 

“Of course.” Wanda tells him and he nods as he looks down at his glass of lemonade. Wanda waits in silence as he works whatever it is that he’s trying to tell her and she observes him. 

She feels oddly attached to Clint in a way that she can’t explain, in a way that she hasn’t been able to connect with anyone else on the team, anyone else besides Natasha. 

He saw something in her that she couldn’t see in herself just yet back in Sokovia and he gave her a chance, more than that, he gave her a choice. He didn’t ask her to fight for them, he didn’t see her as a weapon or an asset that they could use on their side of the fight. 

He was the one who told her that Pietro died a hero with regret in his eyes and pain that Wanda shared. But Wanda knew, of course. There was no other way for Pietro to go, he always did like to make a lasting impression on people. Saving Clint’s life made him into something more than a hero among the Avengers and someone well known around the entire world, some even call him the fallen hero till this day. 

“She hasn’t had it easy, you know?” Clint says now with a light shrug of his shoulders and a soft look in his eyes, a look that Wanda recognizes so well. 

“I know.” Wanda says just as softly and the corners of his lips pull up in an fleeting smile. He cares for Natasha so much and Wanda knows because Natasha cares for him just the same. 

“You’re special, kiddo.” He says and Wanda’s chest warms up at the term and his infinite affection towards her girlfriend. “Take care of her.”

Wanda can hear Natasha down the hallway, she was missing her favorite sleeping shirt this morning and she’s probably turning the laundry room upside down looking for it. Clint wants to say more, the words are practically on the tip of his tongue but he does know Natasha better than anyone, that’s why Wanda knows that he’s not going to say anything else. That’s why she knows that she can trust him. 

“I love her.” She says and his eyes turn to her quickly, his brow furrowed and he stops breathing all together. It’s almost as if he’s never heard anyone say that about Natasha before, which is ridiculous because Wanda feels like she never had a chance against it. 

“You - you do?” He asks and Wanda smiles up at him. That’s the first time that she’s ever said it out loud and it’s been months since that quiet night in a couch, an old Star Wars movie playing in the background and their first kiss and Wanda is pretty sure that she was already in love back then. 

“I do.” She smiles and the declaration awakens something within her, something private and sacred, something that makes her emotional and brave, and happy to share this with him. “I love her, Clint.”

She can feel the tears prickling in her eyes but they’re happy tears, they’re love tears and Clint lets out a watery chuckle that evolves into nervous laughter and he looks happy too. 

“Of course you do, kiddo.” He says with earnest as if he knew that she’ll be here telling him this since the moment they met or maybe he just knows exactly how easy it is to love Natasha. “How could you not?”

“Found it!” Natasha announces from down the hallway and Clint takes a deep breath as he rubs his eyes and Wanda chuckles at the sight of him. Pietro would be harder to impress and Natasha would be ever harder to scare off.  The banter between those two would be out of this world too. 

“I wasn’t gonna leave without - ” Natasha stops talking mid sentence as she re-enters the kitchen, red worned out shirt in her hands. “What happened?” She’s in Wanda’s space in a second and Wanda smiles, though there is no hiding the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks. 

“What did you do?” Natasha turns around, hard eyes on Clint but her confusion is only met with even more confusion when she notices Clint’s tears as well. 

“Nat.” Wanda says, her hand on Natasha’s shoulder and feeling incredibly smitten by this woman who has no idea of what exactly happened while she was just down the hallway but is taking her side either way.

“What happened?” Natasha asks again, her hand coming to rest on Wanda’s waist as she uses her free one to caress her cheek. “What turned you two into crying babies?”

“We’re cheating on you.” Clint says, deflecting, and Natasha throws the infamous red shirt on his face without even looking away from Wanda. “We’re in love.” He continues while folding the shirt calmly and Natasha uses her thumb to caress Wanda’s cheek, her eyes asking so many unspoken questions. 

“We’re okay.” Wanda speaks softly and looking into Natasha’s green eyes as the other woman just holds onto her and there is a moment where she thinks that this might not even be true because how can she be this lucky? How can this incredible woman want her? How can she be here when not long ago she was being held in a cell while Hydra tried to turn her into a weapon? 

“We’re planning our escape.” Clint says next and Natasha’s eyes glint with mirth. “You’ll never find us.”

“Sure.” Natasha jests back and Wanda wraps her arms around her waist from behind as she turns to face her oldest friend and leans against the counter, the weight of Natasha’s body against her chest somehow grounding her. 

“You wouldn’t.” Clint insist and Natasha hums back, her hands now resting on top of Wanda’s on her lower stomach, her thumbs already rubbing circles on the inside of her wrists. 

“Like I didn’t find you all those years ago?” Natasha quirks back and Clint laughs loudly. 

“I brought you in! _I found_ _you_!”

“You only found me cause I wanted you to, Barton.” Natasha says and Wanda has to hide her laughter in Natasha’s hair because Clint looks flabbergasted. 

“Take that back.” He says and Wanda hugs Natasha closer to her chest as the two friends banter back and forth. Yes, she’s a part of this now and she knows how incredibly lucky she is for it. She just has to learn to accept it now. 

…

Wanda has just gotten on the quinjet when Clint whispers something in Natasha’s ear that renders her quiet during the whole flight back home and if it weren’t for the hand on her thigh Wanda would have grown incredibly worried about her silence. 

_ You okay? _

Wanda asks when they land on the rooftop of the Avengers Tower and she does it telepathically as to not break the peaceful atmosphere that’s settled down during the flight. 

“Never been better, rookie.” Natasha replies and although her expression in still thoughtful the smile on her lips is the same one that Wanda is used to seeing. 

_ Then come here and kiss me. _

That soft smile turns into a devilish smirk as Natasha closes the gap between them and kisses Wanda softly at first but then her lips are parting just right and Wanda’s tongue is slipping inside her mouth with practiced ease and her hands move to Natasha’s hair and nape, scratching slightly and making Natasha moan in her mouth. 

“I love it when you do that.” Nat says, short of breath and cheeks tainted red. It’s the sound of her voice, more than her actions, that let Wanda know that she’s okay and whatever Clint said is not entirely related to them but to Natasha herself. 

“I know.” Wanda says and in a swift motion she’s stradling Natasha’s lap and they’re kissing again, this time a little harder, a lot more desperately and thank God for tinted windows.

Wanda arches closer to Natasha as she runs her hands down the front of Natasha’s shirt only to get to hem and pull it off of her. Natasha’s hands are on her ass underneath the sinfully short skirt that she’s currently wearing and Wanda is already rocking her hips against her, looking for friction for the painful ache between her legs that continues to grow with each stroke of Natasha’s tongue on her own inside her mouth. 

“We don’t have much time.” Natasha says against her lips and her hands already pulling at Wanda’s panties down with impatience, as if she didn’t even notice her own words. It’s no surprise really, they haven’t been able to keep their hands to themselves since saturday morning and Wanda is pretty sure that this won’t stop for a while either. 

“We have enough.” Wanda says and she stands up to quickly kick off her panties to the side and then she’s back to stradling Natasha, who doesn’t waste a single second before she has her hands underneath that skirt again.

“Yes. God, Nat.” Wanda moans when Natasha’s thumb presses against her clit without a warning and two fingers run up and down her slit, gathering her own wetness before Natasha is thrusting those two same fingers inside of her without preamble. 

She squeezes Natasha’s shoulders and arches into her as Natasha fucks her hard and fast. Is it always going to be like this? God, Wanda sure hopes so because having Natasha inside of her while she kisses her neck and sucks on her breasts might just be heaven on earth. 

“Come on, rookie.” Nat says and Wanda is painfully aware that she’s doing nothing to even attempt to reciprocate this but her mind is going fuzzy with the amount of pleasure that she’s feeling and Natasha is just fucking her so good that she can barely even think at all. God, her hands are truly magic. 

Her arms wrap around Natasha’s neck as her orgasm begins to build in the pit of her stomach and she’s thrusting her hips in tandem with Natasha’s fingers and then Natasha’s thumb presses just right against her clit when she’s so deep inside of her and Wanda comes. Hard. 

“Oh my! What on earth?” Natasha moans and bites at the only thing that she has in front of her, which happens to be Wanda’s left boob. 

More than pain though, Wanda is hit with unbelievable pleasure all over again and Natasha is shaking in her arms and they’re both coming again and when she opens her eyes she sees red, the taletail of her powers slipping out of her without her even noticing. 

“Nat?” She calls out, carefully and fear already creeping in. 

“What was that?” Natasha asks and Wanda cups her face in her hands as she looks into Natasha’s redish eyes. 

“I think my powers did something to you. Are you okay? What do you feel? What did you just feel? Are you okay?”

“I just came really hard without you even touching me. That’s what happened.” Natasha says and she’s smiling, and the only thing that Wanda can find in her eyes is unspoken admiration and care.

“Natasha, I did something with my powers. You sure you’re okay?” 

“I’m good, rookie. Stop worrying.” But even with Natasha’s fingers sinked inside of her and her legs still tingling from the force of her orgasms, worrying is the only thing that Wanda can do right now.  “Stop that. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I wasn’t touching you.” Wanda says and she whimpers when Natasha pulls out of her, her eyes fall shut and she presses herself closer to Natasha’s body out of instinct. “I wanted to touch you so badly. Make you feel as good as you were making me feel.”

“Well, you did.” Natasha says and then she proceeds to plant loving kisses on Wanda’s left boob, where the imprint of her teeth is now engraved. “It just caught me off guard. Sorry about this.” She says with a grimace and she presses her lips softly against the wound again.

“I didn’t even know I could do that.” Wanda says  as she pushes Natasha’s hair back, which is getting longer and she doesn’t really care that she got bitten right now. 

“You said that these powers feel like an extension of you. I remember you comparing them to a limb.” Natasha says, her arms now wrapped around Wanda’s waist. 

“Yeah.” Wanda nods, her nose nudging Natasha’s cheek before she presses a few light kisses on her face. 

“I don’t ever want to hurt you.” She confesses and Natasha pulls her closer, her eyes still soft and so trusting.

“You won’t.” Natasha says, her voice sounding way more confident than Wanda could ever feel about this. “I meant what I said yesterday. I trust you and I’m not scared.”

“You should be.” Wanda says and Natasha’s response is a kiss to her jawline, her hands are on Wanda’s waist now, gentle and possesive all at once. 

“If I were even the slightest bit scared of the things that you can do, you’d know it and we wouldn’t be here. Plus. I don’t scare that easily, rookie.”

Wanda kisses her then, long and deep enough to leave Natasha’s lips bruised when they stop. She knows that Natasha struggled with the idea of them together at first but she doesn’t know how Wanda also did, and still does, and now this. 

“I’m saying I liked it, rookie.” Natasha tells her later, when it’s only the two of them in a nice king size bed and silk sheets, and Wanda decides in that moment that she can trust her with this too. She trusts that Natasha will not stay in this relationship if she feels the slightest bit threatened by it. That’s not the kind of person that she is and she has to lean on that. 

…

Steve catches a glimpse of a bruise on her upper boob the next morning at breakfast and he blushes furiously as he tries to avoid looking into Wanda’s eyes for the rest of the day. Totally worth it though, even if he gives her hell at training in the afternoon. 

…

  
  



	13. Chapter 13

Warning: Smut central this chapter. Seriously. 

13.

“I can feel you.” Wanda says one day and Natasha eyes her curiously before kissing her jaw one last time and pulling up the sheets to cover up their naked bodies as she rolls off of her to lay beside her on the bed. 

Wanda takes a deep breath as Natasha’s presence-life surrounds  her. It’s such a weird thing to feel and she feels exposed in a way that she can’t explain or truly comprehend herself. Beside her Natasha props her head on her hand and watches her. Wanda’s legs still feel heavy and a pleasant ache is just settling between her legs thanks to their intense love making a few minutes ago but there is something else in the air now too. 

The mood shifts drastically then, Wanda feels Natasha’s curiosity and she’s not actively looking to feel anything besides her own feelings but Natasha’s presence is quickly becoming something that she can’t ignore, her feelings something that Wanda can often feel when she least expects it. It doesn’t happen with anyone else either, not like this. 

Training has become something new entirely, especially when they’re all training together and Wanda can feel each one of her teammates around her. It’s a little weird and she’s still trying to understand it but so far she can only see this as a very helpful skill to have when in battle, or that would the optimistic side of her brain trying to win over everything else. 

She can’t quite put it in words herself and she’s not in complete control of this power just yet, that she’s sure of. But she does know what Sam’s presence feels like or what kind of feeling Steve provokes in her when she feels him close and she’s become particularly good at feeling Vision with a little more clarity than the rest. Even Natasha. 

“You can feel me.” Natasha repeats, her fingers walking a path on Wanda’s shoulder as she smiles lazily, amusement rolls off her in waves and Wanda blushes. She could have definitely picked a better time to utter these words out loud. 

“I’m sorry. I know it’s weird.” Wanda says and Natasha’s arms are around her waist just as she’s about to leave the bed, her face already buried in her hair, soft lips pressing against her earlobe. 

“It’s not weird, rookie.” Natasha says softly, her voice throaty and her palms  incredibly hot against Wanda’s skin. “Explain it to me.”

Wanda closes her eyes and lets herself relax again in Natasha’s arms and the soft lips that are pressing wantonly on her neck. Lately it feels as if she’s learning so much about herself, so many new things that she never thought to be possible before are coming forward. This has to be the most bizarre one so far though. 

“Your presence. I can feel your presence. Your essence, I think. I don’t truly know how. I just know that I feel you.” She says and Natasha hums, her hands still hot, her body still pressed against Wanda’s. She’s the realest thing in Wanda’s life, the most tangible, the most grounding. 

“You can feel me now?” Natasha asks, her lips pressing against her jawline and Wanda’s entire body trembles, her hands tighten it’s hold on Natasha’s arms. 

“Yes.” The word leaves her parted lips in the shape of a moan and Natasha kisses her more properly then. Wanda seems to sink on the mattress when Natasha uses her tongue to draw patterns down her neck and down the valley of her breasts. 

It’s way past midnight and they’ve been at it for hours when Wanda had to confess this one new thing and Natasha continues to surprise her, continues to understand her. She’s not sure of what the others would think about it though. 

Natasha’s mouth is like fire against her already blazing skin and Wanda’s breath is raged when she pushes herself up and switches their positions, pinning Natasha down. 

“You’re getting good at that.” Natasha smirks, all too happy to be on her back as Wanda leans down to kiss her soundly, hands already teasing their way down her body. 

“I want to try.” Wanda whispers against her lips and Natasha’s hips buck up reflexibly, her eyes darkening and her hands already gripping Wanda’s hair. 

“You don’t have to.” Natasha says but Wanda’s hand is already dipping down, her fingers sliding down her slit and slipping down to gather her wetness, making Natasha moan and bite her lip in response. 

“I want to.” Wanda gasps, the air thick and a moan in the back of her throat as she slips one finger inside of her lover. “I want to taste you, Nat.”

Natasha groans and she pulls Wanda until they’re kissing messily and needily as Wanda thrusts in and out of her with painfully slow motions. 

Wanda moves to kiss a path down Natasha’s body, her neck, her chest, her stomach, her belly, her navel and then she looks up meeting Natasha’s green wanton eyes and she smiles.

“You’re killing me.” Natasha groans, her hands delicately pushing Wanda’s hair from her face before running her fingers on Wanda’s jawline, her thumb pressing on the corner of her lips. “You don’t have to.”

The words are spoken honestly and Wanda can feel it, just as she can feel Natasha’s immense desire, her arousal is almost choking the air out of her and of course she’d put that aside for Wanda’s sake.

“I want to.” Wanda tells her again, eyes still connected when she lowers her mouth to plant a full kiss on Natasha’s inner thigh. 

Now this does make her nervous. She’s never gone down on a girl before but Natasha’s breathing is getting more and more elaborate and Wanda simply can’t wait to know what she tastes like, the mere smell of Natasha’s arousal has her mouth already watering. 

The moment she presses her lips against Natasha’s core she does it softly, a chaste kiss pressed against so much wetness that immediately ignites something in her actions. 

Natasha’s hands move to her hair and Wanda groans when she pulls lightly on it. She takes a moment to kiss Natasha and taste her like she’s wanted to all along.

“Oh God.” Natasha moans as Wanda continues to kiss her and when she opens her eyes she’s sure of what Natasha sees because Wanda’s had the same visual with their roles reversed for a couple of dozens of times already and it’s always managed to work her up that much more.

When she sits up on her heels Natasha’s hands fall on her thighs, her fingers pressing hard on her skin as she pushes herself up to chase Wanda’s lips with newfound desire. 

Their tongues meet and Wanda isn’t sure of which one of them moans the loudest. She’s tasted herself on Natasha’s tongue before but this is the first time that she’s got Natasha’s taste all over her and it shouldn’t feel this good, should it? Oh God, but it does. 

“So.” Natasha prompts and coy looks so good on her that Wanda kisses once more before pulling back and looking straight into her eyes. 

“So.” She repeats, knowing full well that Natasha is expecting an answer and that she shouldn’t be teasing her right now.

But Natasha, well, she’s Natasha and she doesn’t buy her little act for a second. 

“Tell me what I taste like, rookie.” She asks, her lips grazing Wanda’s chin while she speaks and God, her voice is liquid sex and Wanda is pushing her lightly against the mattress again before she knows it. 

Natasha is right about this, Wanda does like to be on top because it gives her this kind of visual and there’s nothing better than the sight that Natasha provides when she’s on her back, naked and wearing that awfully attractive smirk on her lips that does inexplicable things to Wanda. 

She takes her time still and Natasha lets her, even while she opens her legs and welcomes Wanda’s hips between them with intimate familiarity. They’re sweaty and the smell of sex is lingering in the air, in the sheets, in themselves and Wanda loves every little detail about them. 

Natasha’s eyes are daring and knowing, Wanda doesn’t believe for a second that she doesn’t know what her answer is.

She chooses to stay silent and eyes locked with Natasha’s she makes her way down her body again. Natasha’s chest rises almost brusquely when Wanda gets to where she wants to be and she licks her up and down without much preamble, refusing to make her wait or tease her anymore. 

Natasha bites her lips to keep from making any noises but Wanda can see her struggling. The more she licks Natasha and drinks everything that she has to offer the more Wanda wonders why did she wait this long to do this. 

Natasha tastes fucking incredibly and she could just tell her that but she also wants to show her. 

Natasha’s knuckles turn white the longer she squeezes the sheets and Wanda uses her fingers to open her up before she plunges her tongue as deep as she can while simultaneously rubbing circles on her clit with her thumb. Natasha can’t keep quiet after that. It’s nothing obscene, there are no loud curses, no high pitch yells. No, Natasha is all soft mewling noises and moans that vibrate straight in Wanda’s core and her own need makes her head fuzzy, but she concentrates and pushes forward. 

She’s made Nat come on her fingers a lot lately and while absolutely mesmerizing that is, it’s nothing compared to the way that she’s reacting to having Wanda’s mouth between her legs. To think that she could have been doing this all this time. 

Fucking someone with her tongue certainly feels odd but oddly satisfying too. Natasha’s chest is heaving now, rough moans pouring out of her mouth that get incredibly louder the moment that Wanda changes tactics and slides two fingers inside of her without a warning and she takes on sucking her clit into her mouth with earnest like Natasha has done to her on countless occasions.

Natasha is close and only experience tells Wanda such a thing. She can’t keep her eyes open and one of her hands has moved to Wanda’s hair as the other grips the pillow beside her head with force as her hips move in tandem with Wanda’s ministrations. 

It takes a curl of her fingers and a few seconds without proper oxygen to make Natasha come as hard as she does. 

“Fuck.” Wanda curses when her fingers get coated in Natasha release when she pulls out of her and she lowers her mouth again, only to drink in as much as she can while she can, air can wait. 

When she looks up Natasha is looking at her with wide eyes and the most beautiful blush on her cheeks and chest that Wanda can’t help but to smile in return. 

“Well.” Wanda says as she sits on her heels again, chin shining and tongue darting out to lick at her lips. 

“Come here.” Natasha pulls her down on top of her and runs her fingers on Wanda’s chin before pulling her down with both hands burying themselves in Wanda’s long hair to crash their lips in a searing kiss that turns sloppy and dirty at once. 

Wanda kisses her back just as hard, just as sloppy. Her hands are on Natasha’s waist and Natasha’s legs are wrapped firmly around her hips.

“I thought you said you were new at this.” Natasha’s voice is a bit breathless and Wanda pecks her lips once more, the sentence reminding her of their first time together. Natasha’s arms are around her now too, keeping them so close that not an inch of their front bodies isn’t touching. 

“You’re not trying to insult my abilities in bed after you just came that hard, are you?.” Wanda teases her and Natasha’s lips twist in a sincere and tired smile. 

“No insulting on my part.”

“Good.” Wanda nods, pecks Natasha’s lips again as she gets more comfortable on the body that’s serving her as a bed, a very soft and comfortable bed. “Because you taste fucking amazing and I’m definitely planning on doing that again before the sun is up.”

Natasha’s eyes sparkle and curiosity oozes out of her so clearly that Wanda has no problem picking up on it. Maybe she’s wondering when did Wanda get this cocky in bed. Hell, Wanda is asking herself the same thing. 

…

 


	14. Chapter 14

14.

It turns out that Stark wasn’t kidding when he said that he’d made some adjustments to their equipment and gear. 

Sam has new wings. Well, technically they’re still the same wings but Stark has been tinkering and now Sam can do a lot more than just fly. Steve’s shield has a new and efficient sensor that makes it come back to his forearm a lot faster and with much more precision. Natasha’s bites now hold enough power to knock out a super soldier on contact. They tested it. Steve wasn’t happy.  

“You like it?” Stark asks as he stands by her side and Wanda shoots him a contemplative stare. Everyone else got new and exciting new gear, near weapons, new equipment and she’s getting a corset, or a shirt? A corset shirt? She’s not sure how to call it. It resembles a corset but there are no strings to be pulled at, which she’s thankful for. 

“I like the red.” She says, still a bit apprehensive but Stark is already picking it up, the corset that is.

“Is scarlet.” He says with a smirk that can’t be coincidental. 

“It's a corset.” She deadpans but she takes the item of clothing from his hands anyway. 

“It’s a uniform.” He counters and he picks up the next box as Wanda studies the corset in her hands. She can’t say that she doesn’t like it but it still confuses her. “It goes great with this.” 

He’s smiling as he holds out a leather coat in his hands, a scarlet leather coat that Wanda instantly loves but would never admit in front of him. 

He’s become a constant presence in their lives, they are living in his Tower for the time being after all. He’s their benefactor and the first Avenger and Wanda has come to admire him in some ways, but she still struggles with the idea of him. 

They’re not friends, at least Wanda doesn’t think that they are but they are family and that’s even more confusing to accept that any of the other relationship that she’s forged for herself in the last year. 

They’re in his lab now, which is where he’s been teaching her how to backup valuable information in case of an emergency extraction. Natasha knows how to do this, of course, but Wanda needs to be prepared for this sort of missions since they don’t always fight wars with their fists. Or so Steve keeps on telling her when she complains about spending too much time with Stark, time that she’d rather spent anywhere else to be quite honest. 

“When we go out there we’re representing something.” Stark says and Wanda has to blink herself back to the present, where he’s still holding out the coat for her to look and she has a corset in her hands to match it. 

“Not every time.” She reminds him gently because they’ve been training her a lot more in the spionage field these days and also because she doesn’t really know how to respond to his presents. 

“Of course not.” He concedes with a shake of his head and a look in his eyes that unnerves her to the bone. 

Stark’s presence is a whirlwind and Wanda is a bit surprised when she first feels him and it’s still weird and she still doesn’t know how it happens but he’s there, very much present and alive. 

She wants to look away from his eyes but something holds her in place and she realizes that she no longer hates him, she no longer blames him for the things that she was convinced he was guilty for. 

They’ve all made mistakes, none of them have their hands clean. That much is clear. 

“We all have a uniform that the world associates us with and you need one too.” He continues, as if the long moment of silence didn’t happen, as if his eyes weren’t as loud as they were being moments ago. “Red looks good on you.”

The ways he says that is a bit provocative and Wanda gets the double meaning immediately. 

“I mean that.” He adds just as quickly though and the tone of his voice makes her skin prickle and she wants to run.

“I like it.” She blurts out, needing a change of subject fast because there is no version of this where she’d be able to talk to him about Natasha. None. 

“I figured.” He shrugs and he drops the coat in her arms with a flourish. “The color looks good on you, little witch.”

She frowns at his choice of words and he smiles a bit wider at her response. It’s not the first time that he’s called her that and she’s certain that the nickname is about to stick. 

“Please don’t call me that in front of Sam.” She begs a hopeless cause but he just moves around the desk to pull two chairs in front of the main computer to start their lessons of the day. 

“What? Little witch?” He asks innocently enough to let her know that Sam is already in on it, the smirk on his lips is enough to make her take a deep breath. 

She groans petutanly but her eyes are on the coat and the corset and the comfortable weight they put in her hands, and she doesn’t exactly know why but this uniform seems fitting and she can’t wait to try it on. 

Her hesitance with Stark can wait, they have time now. 

…

The moment to try it on comes a lot sooner than she’d have liked.

“Suit up.” Steve, no, the Captain orders them just as they’re about to sit down for lunch and Wanda sets her chinese container down on the table again as he stares at the phone in his hands. “We have a situation. I’ll debrief you on the jet. We’re up in three minutes.”

Natasha catches her eyes as they stand up but they all move in the direction of their respective closets without hesitation. 

Her hands are sweating by the time Wanda enters her closet down at the armory. It’s nothing alike the closets at the compound where the majority of her jackets were left behind and the walls were lined with guns that she never needed anyway. There’s nothing much on the racks for her here but she made sure to hang the corset-shirt and the coat near each other earlier after Stark let her go for the day. 

In a hurry she undresses and puts it on, the corset is a bit of a bitch but when she’s done and catches a look in the full length mirror she can’t deny that she likes the way that she looks. The coat is a lot lighter on her shoulders than she’d have thought it’d be and she smiles at herself in the mirror because Stark was probably right about this. 

This isn’t a uniform per se but it makes her feel powerful enough to go out there and face whatever it’s waiting for them with determination. She does feel like she’s wearing armor somehow. She tries not to think about the fact that Stark was behind this and maybe this isn’t just a coat, she wouldn’t be surprised really.

“One minute.” Natasha says from the door and Wanda finally catches sight of her through the mirror. Natasha can’t have been standing there for long but she can tell that this suit looks on her by just the way that she’s being looked at right now. “New clothes?”

“Stark thought I needed a uniform.” Wanda says as she adjusts her hair and Natasha walks closer to secure her earpiece in place. 

“Red looks good on you, rookie.” Natasha says and the words don’t make Wanda want to run this time around.

“It’s scarlet.” Wanda corrects her before kissing her quickly, just a peck on the lips that has Natasha leaning forward before it’s over.

“Not fair.” Natasha says, her lips ghosting on hers and Wanda kisses her again. They break it off quickly though, even if it was deep, even if it poured words unspoken back and forth, even if they don’t want to stop. 

Natasha’s new tactical suit is a masterpiece and it hugs her body in all the right places, places that Wanda has a hard time ignoring as they board the jet and Natasha goes straight for the pilot’s seat.

Sam is whistling even before Wanda can spot him and she blushes slightly. 

“Look who graduated from goth teen into young adult goth.” He jests and Natasha laughs, even if she accidentally steps on his foot on her way. “Hey!”

Wanda smiles and only limits herself to roll her eyes at him. They all know that Natasha doesn’t  _ accidently  _ do anything. 

“We have a situation.” Steve says as Natasha puts them in the air and all jesting is gone. Steve sounds worried. “The Marine has asked us to assist them in a rescuing mission.”

“What happened?” Sam asks as Wanda’s attention spikes. If the Marine is asking for their help that means that the Government is taking them into account as a response team already. It seems like those meetings that Natasha has been attending with Rodey for the past few weeks have paid off.  

The goal is to always keep their autonomy after all. Keep their status as high risk operatives willing to lend a hand and having the liberty to run their own missions as well. 

“They were running a series of tryouts in the open sea. Nothing out of the ordinary expect that they were attacked and three ships have sunk already with hundreds of marines in them.”

“Shit.” Sam curses. “Destroyers?”

“Yeah.” Steve nods. 

“Do we know who’s attacking them or why?” Wanda asks.

“They were testing high range weaponry. Cutting edge stuff. The tryouts were supposed to be a high level secret.”

“High level secret with hundreds of participants.” Natasha says from the front seat and Steve sighs. “Have they tried to take their ships back?”

“They’ve tried.” Steve says. “And now there are three ships in the bottom of the ocean plus a few dozens dead bodies on the ship that sent the SOS signal. They need our help.”

“That, they do.” Natasha says.

…

They land on a lone ship in the middle of so much ocean that Wanda is a little overwhelmed by the picture that it paints. It’s a sunny day, a cloudless sky and it’d be a beautiful day if it weren’t for the chaos that she can spot in the distance where smoke rises from two ships. 

Wanda doesn’t need the confirmation before she realizes that they’re dealing with mercenaries, maybe worse. They’ve seen this kind of thing before but never on such a scale. These thugs are not amateurs and the kind of power, men and resources it’d take to capture five ships of this caliber and sank three others it’s unimaginable. 

“You okay?” Natasha asks her as she joins her a couple of meters away from where Steve and Sam are speaking with the Captain. 

“I’m good.” Wanda smiles at her but she doesn’t reach out like she wants to. They’re surrounded by officers, all eyes on them. There is no room for vulnerabilities now, they’re the Avengers and their privacy is important as is the face that they put out there. 

“We don’t know what we’re facing.” Natasha says softly, her eyes trained on the ships before she looks up. “Where the hell is Stark?”

Wanda takes a moment, eyes up as well and she smiles to herself when she feels him just barely, not that far. 

“He’s getting close.” She says and Natasha huffs a laugh despite the anxious energy that surrounds her. 

“I liked it better when you could only feel me.” She says with a hint of humor in her voice. 

“So did I.” Wanda agrees softly. 

When Iron Man arrives he goes straight to where Steve and Sam are talking with the Captain and that conversation ends quickly, probably thanks to Stark. 

“I don’t like it.” Stark states when they’re in hearing range and Sam frowns, so does Wanda. 

“What’s going on?” Natasha asks as they join them. 

“You don’t have to like it but we still have to help in any way that we can.” Steve says and Wanda is painfully aware that every single officer on the ship is watching them like hawks. Something about all of this feels off and she’s not the only one to notice. Sam and Natasha are both wearing similar frowns on their foreheads as they look back and forth.  

“By putting ourselves in deliberate danger? We don’t even know what’s happening out there.” Stark argues, keeping his voice low and he also seems to notice the eyes on them.

“Steve.” Natasha calls him and he takes a deep breath, his eyes meet Wanda’s for a second before he looks down. 

“Two ships seem to have been detonated from the inside. The third ship that sank was attacked from underwater. There’s been radio silence since and each attempt to make contact has been unsuccessful.”

“Did you speak with Rhodey?” Wanda asks just as another explosion goes off. This time they can hear screams and as they turn around to see what happened another explosion goes off and a fourth ship begins to sink right before their eyes. 

“I don’t like this.” Natasha says and her voice is steal, her suit seems to respond to her change in demeanor and it becomes darker, the lines of electricity that feed her bites run through it alight and deadly. 

The ship erupts in flames, poles fall down and the screams from the ones inside are gone and all that’s left is silent one more time. It doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t make sense at all.  

“Neither do I.” Steve says, a snarl on his lips as he looks over his shoulder where every officer seems to have taken a step closer to them. “But if there is a chance that innocent people are on those ships we need to do everything we can to save them.”

“What about Wanda?” Stark bites out and Wanda looks at him in surprise, but she’s the only one who does so. “I say you and I asses the situation. Send the rest of the team back.”

“You’re not going over there on you own.” Sam argues as Natasha moves closer to Wanda.

“What is happening?” Wanda asks and whatever argument Stark was going to put up dies as he looks at her. The look in his eyes is painfully close to worrisome and Wanda looks away from him in a rush. He can’t look at her like that. Not him.   

“There‘s a chance that we’re being played here.” Natasha tells her and Wanda’s blood runs cold. If they walked into a trap then there is no right choice here to make, they’re going to have to fight their way out no matter what. Their priority is to make it out alive. All of them. 

“We need to move.” Steve tells them and his eyes lock Wanda in, he’s frowning and she’s ready to fight him against going back while they fight on their own but he doesn’t ask her to leave. “Our priority is the lives of those marines.”

“Our priority?” Stark hisses and it’s between Steve’s anger and desperation that Wanda feels the upcoming threat closing in on them. 

The fourth ship continues to sink in the distance and Stark and Steve aren’t exactly being subtle about their disagreement, and in the midst of so much chaos Wanda picks up a change in the air that makes her react immediately. 

She’s barely lifted her hands to put up a shield around them when hundreds of bullets rain on them as every single person on this ship opens fire. To her right Stark’s helmet covers his head and then he’s in the air returning fire while the rest of the team takes cover and pushes their backs against Wanda’s. 

Their jet is attacked next and Wanda watches as it blows in a cloud of fire just as they hit Stark with something bigger than bullets. A bazooka, maybe? He falls into the water and sinks faster than the ships, unresponsive and Wanda looks for him desperately. 

She holds her hands up as she closes her eyes and when she finally founds him, feels him alive, she drops her hands and with them all the force that she can master in this moment of extreme desperation. 

A wave of her powers hits every single person holding up a gun and sends them flying several feet back but none of them fall unconscious. However, the hit is enough to distract everyone enough for them to scape. 

Sam takes Steve’s arm and he takes off flying and Wanda follows him with Natasha by her side. She’s never carried anyone before in her flight and she’s not even touching Natasha but somehow she’s right there by her side because her powers are once more surprising her with their response to her needs. 

“Stark, come in. Tony!” Natasha’s fingers are pressed to her ear and she’s more concerned with Tony’s wellbeing than being up in the air right now, surrounded in the red mist of Wanda’s powers. 

“He’s alive.” Wanda informs her and Natasha’s eyes turn to her, wide and terrified. 

“They brought us to the middle of nowhere.” Natasha says through gritted teeth and Wanda can feel her anger. “What the fuck do they want?”

“Us.” Sam says through the coms as he and Wanda land on one of the four ships remaining. 

They move like one, backs pressed firmly against the first wall they find and Wanda’s hand immediately reaches out for Natasha, who thankfully grips it tightly. 

“Who called?” Natasha asks and the silence around them can’t mean anything good, especially when Wanda can feel the presence of a damned army not that far away from them. “Who sent us here? Who gave you the intel?”

“General Flare.” Steve answers. “He sounded so agitated. Now I wonder if he’s still alive.”

“Or if he’s the one calling the shots out here. Maybe he set up this trap.” Natasha deadpans as Wanda looks and looks until she senses Tony amongst so many others. 

They have no evac, Hill is no longer around to keep point on that part of their missions anymore and Vision is back at the Tower, still not fully operational after the attack on the compound. They’re alone but then again, they do work best when it’s just them. 

“You mean no one else confirmed what happened here?” Wanda asks as Tony surfaces from the ocean and joins them. “Has anyone spoken to Rhodey?”

“He’s not answering his phone.” Stark hisses and even though they can’t see his face they can all hear the anger in his tone. “Congratulations Cap, you’ve guided us straight into a dead trap in the middle of nowhere.”

“He said people are dying, Tony. I couldn’t just ignore that!”

“Would you just get off that fucking high horse? What about us?”

“Enough!” Natasha hisses, pressing a hand on Stark’s suit and letting go of Wanda’s. “You two can yell all you want when we’re out of here. Not right now.”

“We need a plan.” Sam says, his hand on Steve’s shoulder. “We can have a conversation about this when we get back to the Tower. Can we please focus on how to get out of here alive now?”

“We’re surrounded.” Wanda informs them quietly. “There are at least a hundred people around us. They could be hostiles or hostages. There’s no way to know until we face them.”

“I’m going for a sweep.” Stark announces and he doesn’t wait before he’s gone. 

There are a lot of points to be made in what’s happening but Wanda keeps her mouth shut for now. The longer they stand here and argue, more people might be dying and they can’t let that happen. 

“They’ve isolated us.” Natasha says as she frantically types on the holo screen programmed on her wrist. “Our communications lines are down. There is no way for us to contact anyone. Our coms are next.”

“Little witch is right.” Stark says through the coms and the nickname doesn’t make Wanda flinch this time around but the fact that they can hear him unerves her. They’re being cut out and it’s only a matter of time before their coms are shut down too. “There are at least a hundred armed hostiles on the deck and around a hundred more hostages being kept on the lower levels.”

“Are you sure they’re hostages?” Sam asks. 

“Yes, birdie I’m sure.” Stark’s snarky response comes through and that’s enough of an answer for Steve to move into action.

“Okay. Stark and I fight here. We’ll create a distraction on the deck so the rest of you can get the hostages out.”

“Hold on.” Natasha interrupts him, her voice hard. “I hate to agree with Tony on this, trust me. But we do need to make ourselves the priority here. We don’t know what game is in play and if this was all a deploy to get us out here we need to rethink our next move.”

“Am I hearing this right? Did Romanoff just agree with me?” Stark asks and Wanda would be amused but they’re literally standing in the belly of a beast that they’re yet to know nothing about and Natasha looks nervous on her feet. 

“There are innocent people in danger. Dying.” Steve reminds them. 

“We can’t leave them behind.” Wanda agrees and the look that Natasha throws her way is like a slap to her face. She’s not betraying anyone here, her loyalty remains the same and isn’t that their jobs anyway? Isn’t their jobs to try and save as many lives as they can?

“We don’t know what they want.” Natasha insists, her hand insistent on Wanda’s forearm, her eyes betraying her. She’s worried for Wanda and they can’t have that because the mission must always come first, Natasha herself taught her that. “They could be after you for all we know.”

“Then it’s a good thing that the Avengers have been training me for all possible outcomes, isn’t it?”

“Wanda.” Natasha frowns. “I’m not saying we just up and leave. I’m saying let’s take a moment.”

“I’m with Natasha.” Sam says quickly, his eyes firmly locked with Wanda’s as he speaks, as if they’ve all come to the same conclusion, as if they’ve all decided that they need to protect her first and foremost. “We need to lay low until we know what’s going on. We can’t just jump on the line of fire like this.”

“Okay.” Steve concedes. “What do you suggest?” His question is directed at Natasha and Wanda takes a moment to really look at her. 

The look in her girlfriend’s eyes is far too easy to read, at least for Wanda it is. Natasha’s hesitation doesn’t come from fear, they all know that she’d do anything to get the mission done, she cares about those hostages as much as Steve does. Natasha’s hesitation comes from her desire to keep Wanda safe and Wanda wants to object. 

“Give me five minutes with one of these morons.” Natasha says, lips pursed and struggling to look away from Wanda. 

“We can do that.” Steve nods heavily, his hand unconsciously tightening the strap of his shield as he looks at Sam. “Let’s get her one.”

It’s not like them to stand and wait, but that’s exactly what they do. Natasha takes her hand at one point and doesn’t let it go, and it feels strained and Wanda knows that they’ll end up having a discussion for what happened here today and something definitely switched in their relationship, but she needs to stay focused right now because they need to get out of here alive first.

Tony does another sweep but no one seems eager to attack them and Steve and Sam come back with a man wearing a marine uniform far too quickly for their liking and with no one following them. They are standing exactly where they’re wanted. 

“Maximoff.” The man says as soon as he lands his eyes on Wanda and Wanda’s entire body goes rigid at hearing his voice. She knows that voice. 

“Who are you?” Natasha asks him and when he doesn’t look at her she punches him in the nose, making him bleed instantly. 

“We’ve been waiting for you.” The man smiles bloodily and Wanda wants to recognize his face but she doesn’t, although the sound of his voice sends her straight back to the days she spent with Hydra and she’s bombarded with memories of Pietro so suddenly that she almost loses her footing.

“Don’t look at her.” Natasha grabs his jaw and turns his head but the man refuses to look away from Wanda. He doesn’t fight back and Wanda’s breath catches in her throat when he nods at her in such a familiar way. “Talk to me. Tell me who you are!”

“You know who I am, little one.” He says and Wanda looks down, a memory hitting her so unexpectedly at hearing the pet name. She remembers the cells where they kept them, she remembers Pietro screaming and the walls echoing with the force of his body colliding in them. She remembers her head splitting in two, as if there was another person screaming inside of her as loud as Pietro was in the next cell. She remembers her powers becoming alive in her hands and how fleeting they felt, how weak they were in the beginning.

_ You’re doing great, little one _ . She remembers his voice and she doesn’t remember his face because he was a doctor. He was the one who treated her, the one who always tended to her wounds after the experiments, the one who was always sent in to talk to her. 

They told them that they were going to build a better world, she and Pietro were meant to forge freedom and their powers were a gift to humanity.  

_ Are you ready to comply, little one? _

“He’s a doctor.” Wanda says and looks up to find him smiling hungrily at her. 

“Are you ready to comply?” He asks and Wanda’s vision turns dark just as Natasha breaks the man’s jaw with her fist and chaos truly erupts all around them. 

... 

  
  



	15. Chapter 15

15.

Wanda wakes up to the sound of gunfire and punches, and the smell of blood surrounds her like the air itself. She’s confused and fear immediately pushes against her chest heavily as she tries to get her bearings. She can’t see anything at first, everything is dark and the only thing that she can hear is the sound of fighting so she does the only thing that she can think of doing and she closes her eyes.

She finds her team almost instantly and for the first time since she discovered this new skill it doesn’t feel as weird because she’s just understanding it’s real meaning and it is a helpful skill to have in moments like this one. Sam, Steve, Tony and Natasha are alive and well but they’re also surrounded by enemies and Wanda can feel their collective fear as if it were her own.

The Doctor is lying a few feet away from her, unconscious and Wanda is painfully aware that it was his words that had an impact on her but she pushes herself to her feet and runs down the hallway where she can hear the fight going. 

She catches a man, a beast of a man going for Natasha’s neck and she sends him flying against the roof before dropping him unceremoniously to the ground.

“Hey.” Natasha says breathlessly, her brow is bleeding and Wanda would really like to tend to it and talk to her but she rounds Natasha’s body as she works her hands around her powers and hits the dozen of men coming for them with a powerful blast that sends them flying backwards. 

A few fall unconscious with the blast of her powers and the ones who don’t are met with Natasha’s unforgiving fist to their faces that knocks them down just as efficiently. 

“What happened?” Wanda asks as she looks around her, still feeling a bit fuzzy around the edges. There are at least twenty five men on the floor and she can hear Steve and Sam fighting somewhere close, the explosions from Tony’s ammo too but she goes for Natasha first. 

“You passed out and they came at us. They came out of everywhere.” Natasha says, her hands already pushing back Wanda’s hair from her face and pulling herself closer, as if she needs to check on Wanda just as much. “Are you okay? What happened back there?”

“I’m not sure.” Wanda confesses as she wipes at Natasha’s brow with the inside of her coat sleeve. “His words sent me back straight to when they were training us. His voice sounded so familiar. I’m not sure of what happened.”

“This is Hydra.” Natasha breathes out, her breath still short and Wanda frowns deeply as she wraps her arms around Natasha’s neck in a rush. The thought that they’re all here because Hydra wants her sickens her and it makes her angry, and scared. What do they want now? Why are they looking for her?   

“They want me.” Wanda says, her voice breaking. 

“They won’t have you.” Natasha promises as she pulls back and cups Wanda’s face with her hands. “I won’t let them.” The ferocity in Natasha’s voice makes Wanda nervous but she nods her head anyway. 

“We won’t let them.” Natasha repeats as they hear an explosion nearby and the ship shakes along with it. “Come on. Let’s save the boys.” She says with a cheeky grin and Wanda pulls her back to press their lips together in a hard kiss. 

“The coms are down.” Wanda says when they pull back and Natasha grins back. 

“You were thinking about the coms right then? Way to make your girlfriend feel special, rookie.”

The humor in Natasha’s tone is enough to make Wanda smile but the thought of Hydra wanting her back is far from amusing. 

“Nat.” She calls out when they about to round into another corridor. Fear is such a gripping feeling, isn’t it? 

“I know, babe.” Natasha says quickly, her hands already back on Wanda’s face, her lips kissing the corner of her mouth despite the position they’re in, despite knowing that there is no time for this. “They won’t get to you. They won’t.”

…

The chaos on the deck renders Wanda speechless. A hundred men was definitely far from accurate. This ship is filled with marines, marines that are definitely Hydra Agents. There is no way that they’re winning this fight. They have to find a way out, now. 

“Take cover!” Steve shouts just as Wanda and Natasha emerge from the lower deck and while he rolls on the ground a bullet catches his thigh and Wanda sees red, literally and figuratively. 

She raises her hands and she finally, finally gets to fight these bastards like she wants to. They all come towards her, as if seeing her has reminded them of what they’re actually doing here and Wanda attacks them with blinding fury that leaves unconscious bodies all around her. 

“Steve!” Natasha is by his side immediately as Sam crushes to the floor beside them, his wings are burnt and there is a gush on his arm at least four inches long that is bleeding profusely. 

“I’m fine.” Steve argues and stands up stubbornly, only to fall back on his ass with a groan ripping from his mouth. Wanda goes to Sam first and focuses on stopping his bleeding. Her powers are responsive and the bleeding stops but the wound stays visible and it’s clear that he’s going to need stitches. “The marines are stuck on the lower level.”

Sam smiles tiredly at her and murmurs a soft thank you but Wanda is confused as to why she wouldn’t be able to heal this cut as well as she did months ago when Natasha was shot, not that she can voice these concerns right now, stopping the bleeding is far more important.  

“We need to get out of here.” Sam says as Stark continues to fight somewhere close and with their coms down they have no idea of he’s doing okay or not, they only hear the sounds of his weapons and explosions caused by them. 

“We need to help the marines.” Steve says again and Wanda turns to him. 

“How do you suggest we do that?” She asks as Natasha removes her hands from where she’s been putting pressure on Steve’s leg to give her room to work her magic. 

“We need to take this ship back. That’s the only way we can help them.” 

He screams when Wanda pulls the bullet out of his leg and she uses her powers in a rush to stop his bleeding, which is the best she can do right now. 

Stark chooses this moment to land right in front of them, and he stumbles and Wanda’s frown deepens. His suit is beginning to malfunction and Steve can’t fight anymore, Sam’s wings are out and Natasha’s stance shows that she will not leave Steve alone, not until he’s somewhere safe at least. 

“We need you.” Stark tells her and Wanda nods. 

“Wait.” Natasha argues just as fast but Wanda shakes her head. She can fight, she’s the last line of fire here and she can do this, Natasha knows that she can do this and that’s why she curses under her breath and doesn’t pull Wanda back like she so obviously wants to do. 

“The doctor used some kind of trigger on you. You can’t speak to any of them. Don’t put yourself in a position where they can say anything to you, you hear me?”

“Take no chances.” Wanda says and Natasha’s lips turn up just the slightest bit. She’s told Wanda that so many times during their training sessions that neither one of them would be able to forget them it if they tried. 

Wanda turns to Stark again and then she’s up in the air right by his side in a matter of seconds. 

These Hydra Agents pour out from every corner of the ship and Wanda finally understands what Natasha meant when she called Hydra a parasite a while back. 

Wanda doesn’t give them a chance. She fights to incapacite and the ones who dodge her blasts have no other option but to jump ship as she plays with their minds as loud as she can, something that she hasn’t done in such a long time, but this is something that Hydra was always keen on her using against their enemies. It only seems right for her to use it against them now. 

“Little witch suits you just fine.” Stark tells her and she smiles back at him. She’s starting to believe that yes, maybe the name does suit her just fine. 

When they reach the main deck Stark gets right to work and Wanda stands back, still casting a very specific spell that will make every Hydra Agent jump into the ocean because she’s telling them to. 

It doesn’t take long before the rest join them. Sam and Natasha help Steve into a chair and then Natasha is by her side in a second. 

“They’re all going for a swim.” She says, an amused smirk on her lips, her hands already on Wanda’s arms. “Is that all you, rookie?”

“I just suggested a bath, they’re the ones jumping.” Wanda says and Natasha’s look is a mix between pride and pure affection.

“Can you get us out of here?” Steve asks and they all turn to Stark, who is still tinkering with so many panels at his disposal. 

“Yes, Captain.” His tone is snarky and Wanda knows that a fight is about to follow but Stark just limits himself to retract his helmet and look at Steve with a hard stare that sends shivers down Wanda’s spine and everyone else’s, no doubt. “I can put us on the move but our communication lines are still down.”

They do free the hostages from the lower decks of all four ships left standing but the Hydra Agents that seemed to be so many of disappear underwater just as fast. It’s a nightmare. Hydra is like a horror story and it’s agents are ghosts. 

The communication lines stay down even after they reach the closest harbor. None of them talk about what just happened. Sam and Steve are rushed to the Medical Bay when they get to the Tower and Natasha is rushed to deal with Capitol Hill. 

Everything was a deploy just to get Wanda out there. Every last weapon that the Navy held on those docks is gone, as long with every High Rank Commander that was on board of the ships.

They find a bug in Rhodey’s phone and another in the Tower, which causes Tony to dismantle everything before he builds it back again by himself. 

Everything seems to switch in the Tower. Their lives change one more time. 

… 

Steve and Sam stay in the Medical Bay for days and Natasha takes it upon herself to carry all the weight of the questions being raised about Wanda’s upbringing and her connections to Hydra. She spends her days in Rhodey’s office, planning, strategizing, going over every option they have and when she’s at the Tower she’s often with Tony, also planning, coding, investigating, searching, rebuilding. 

Wanda is always with someone, never alone but never with Natasha either. Everyone in the Tower is angry and Wanda feels overwhelmed with their protectiveness. 

She knows that none of them will allow Hydra to get to her and makes her feel warm as much as it terrifies her. They have a very specific purpose again and they’re coming for Hydra. Whatever it takes. 

… 

  
  



	16. Chapter 16

16.

The promise that she made Wanda weeks ago has taken residence at the forefront of her mind and it’s all that she can truly think about as of lately. Hydra is a parasite, Natasha is more convinced of it now more than ever before. 

She isn’t fond of cashing in favors, though they do come in handy sometimes, the thought alone that she needs help though… it makes her uneasy and it leaves her somehow open. 

After Hill left the compound and Fury went dark for good Natasha hasn’t really had any sort of contact with either one of them. That didn’t mean that she couldn't find Hill when she really needed her though. 

“Miss me?” She smirks as she drops from the balcony where she was perched on and lands a few steps away from Maria Hill. 

“What took you so long?” Hill asks in response of the greeting and Natasha shrugs a shoulder, shakes her head as she surveys the area around them with keen eyes. She wasn’t waiting for long and of course Hill already knew Natasha was here. 

“I’ve got a lot on my plate these days.” Natasha tells her and then hastily follows Hill when the woman moves. 

“Don’t we all?”

Natasha nods but say nothing else as Hill moves swiftly down the alley and stops in front of a brick wall. Natasha is about to ask what they’re doing standing in front of a brick wall when said wall morphes into an iron door and Hill leans forward to have her retines scanned on a small screen. 

Finding Hill was one thing though and true to her reputation she didn’t need Natasha to spill everything out for her, which made this asking for a favor thing a little easier on Natasha’s end. 

“Come on.” She says casually and Natasha follows, no questions asked. 

SHIELD days are far behind them now but it’s still so easy to fall back into the way things used to be. Hill murmuring orders above her shoulder almost feels like home in a sense.

“How many more of these bases do you still have access to?” Natasha asks as their steps echo down the long empty hallway.

“You know better than to ask that.” Hill says with a hint of humor and Natasha smirks to herself. Yes, she’s missed this but it’s something else entirely now too. Natasha doesn’t have to answer to Hill and Hill has no authority to command her, but it’s easy to fall into old habits, isn’t it? 

“And you’re taking baby steps.” Natasha acknowledges, still impressed by the level of operations that Hill is still running, no doubt under Fury’s orders. Now to the question that she’s truly curious to know. “You verifying the foundations yourself this time around?” 

Hill throws her a look that Natasha knows well but neither one of them falter in their steps. It was a gamble, of course, Natasha didn’t know for certain that SHIELD was being rebuilt until this very moment when Hill doesn’t deny it, on the contrary. 

“Of course I am.” Hill says when they reach a second door, thicker than the first and same security measures. 

The door opens to reveal a regular, if not small SHIELD Operational Center but that’s not what surprises Natasha, she knows that Fury kept more than one secret from everyone. The faces that turn to look at her is what surprises her the most. Faces that she recognizes. 

“Hey there, stranger.” Sharon is the first one to greet her and Natasha’s smile turns a bit wider. 

“Hey, yourself.” She says as Sharon hands Hill a black folder. 

“You look surprised.” Sharon says as Hill flips through the documents in the folder with analytic speed. “Not a look I’ve seen on you a lot.”

“Because you’ve seen so many.” Natasha teases her and Sharon nods, the smile on her face never wavering. 

“Come on.” Hill says and she’s following again, this time with Sharon hot on her heels. 

Natasha sees so many faces that she never thought she’d see again. These people weren’t really her friends before but they were people that Natasha saw every day back at quarters, people that have remained loyal even after SHIELD fell, even after she made their whole affairs public. 

“Any news?” Hill asks as soon as they cross the door to a conference room and Natasha is once again pleasantly surprised. 

“Communications picked up the same signal this morning as it broadcasted the same message.” Bobbie Morse answers and Natasha begins feeling a little bit more at ease about the whole lack of information so far. Hill has something good for her, that much she’s sure of. 

“Carter?” Hill turns to Sharon as Natasha observes the interactions. Everything changed, their entire lives were turned upside down not that long ago and yet, some things just stay the same.  

“We’ve got a location.” Sharon confirms and Bobbie shuts her laptop closed as she stands up, hands behind her back. Natasha knows the stance well, she was a soldier ready to take on an order not that long ago too. She can’t help to think that Bobbie would make such a fine addition to the team back at the Compound.

“There you go, Romanoff.” Hill says as she hands her the damned folder and Natasha is slightly  tempted to hug her after reading what’s on it. Hill always delivers, doesn’t she? 

“Do I get a team?” Natasha asks and Hill is far too amused to try and conceal it, Natasha is on the verge of smiling too. 

“Agent 13 and the Mockingbird aren’t enough for you?” Hill counters and then she clicks her tongue disapprovingly. 

“I get them both?” Natasha asks with mock enthusiasm as Hill stares her down. They were always good at this part of the bargain. Hill never had to say more than was absolutely necessary and Natasha didn’t need to hear it either, still... 

“I owe you.” Natasha says and Hill’s eyes squint the tiniest bit at the admission. She probably wasn’t expecting that. Damn it! Natasha wasn’t willing to say it  out loud in front of witnesses either but something always has to give. 

“That, you do.” She says and before Natasha’s uncomfortableness makes itself known she turns to Bobbie and Sharon swiftly. “We need that intel, Agents.” Hill reminds them. 

“We’re not bringing anyone in?” Bobbie asks and Natasha grits her teeth just as Hill’s eyes find hers again, a dark look in them. 

“I’m not sure that they’ll be any survivors to bring in.”

…

Once they’re dismissed and outside of the conference room Bobbie is hugging her. 

“Isn’t this a nice surprise?” Natasha says as she returns the hug. 

“It’s so good to see a familiar face around here.” Bobbie tells her and Natasha nods, her hands still on Bobbie’s arms. While she’s seen a few of those, Bobbie practically is a new face to all these people. Fury always kept the Mockingbird separated from any compounds. Always an A under his sleeve and Natasha understands why. 

“Last I heard you were aboard.” Natasha says and Bobbie takes a deep breath that can only mean bad things. 

“I should have listened to Clint and stay on land.” Bobbie says. “I never liked ships to begin with.” 

…

They’re geared up and up in the air on a jet when Natasha’s phone lights up with Wanda’s picture in an incoming call. She considers not picking up but just the thought of Wanda coming for her while she’s on this rogue mission is enough to make her change her mind. 

“Good morning, rookie.” She hates to sound as hesitant as she does and she has no doubt that if Wanda wanted she could find out exactly where Natasha is right now, which is exactly why she needs to assure her right now. 

“ _What the hell, Natasha?_ ” Wanda spits out and Natasha closes her eyes as she ponders her next words. Tensions have been rising high in the Tower because of Hydra. Wanda hates it, of course, she hates the fact that they’re looking for her and Natasha knows that the last thing that Wanda wants is to put any of them in any danger and she’d give herself up if it came down to it without a question. 

The thing is, none of them are willing to let Hydra lay a finger on Wanda and she hasn’t realized that yet. 

“ _I haven’t seen you in days and I wake up today to find out that you’re not even in the States. Stark told me. Stark! Out of all people. Where are you?_ ”

“I’m taking care of something.” Natasha says but even as she utters the words she knows that they aren’t enough. Damn it! If Wanda pulled this crap on her, Natasha would be livid. 

“ _We agreed._ ” Wanda’s voice breaks and Natasha curses internally. “ _This isn’t your fight_.”

“But it is.” Natasha says pationally and she couldn’t really disguised the anger in her tone even if she wanted it to.

The Doctor spoke but he also scaped. Hydra wants their asset back. In their twisted, Nazy minds they believe that Wanda is theirs and they want her back on their ranks no matter the cost. Everything that they’ve fought lately has been connected to them, to this very particular objective and Natasha is simply not about to sit tight and wait for their next attack when she can be doing something.

“I am not going to let them get near you.” Natasha says and she can hear Wanda’s ragged breathing through the phone, which only helps cement her resolve in doing this by herself. “They are not getting near you.”

“ _Has it ever occur to you that I don’t want them near you either?_ ” Wanda’s question breaks Natasha’s heart because she has thought about it, she knows that Wanda wants to protect her just as much but this is who they are, isn’t it? And it was always going to become a problem, sooner rather than later. 

The Black Widow has always worked better alone and if she has to revert back to old habits to keep Wanda safe… Natasha is okay with that. 

“You know me, rookie.” Natasha pleads, her own voice breaking and Wanda sniffs. “You know I can do this. You know me.”

“ _Where are you?_ ” 

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

She ends the call with a sinking feeling in her stomach that only gets worse with every look that Sharon and Bobbie avoid from her for the rest of the flight. 

She saw this coming, she saw it that first night when Wanda kissed her in the dark while an old Star Wars movie played on the background. She knew it’d come down to this. 

She might trust the women on this jet to a degree but the thought that she’s compromised sets heavily on her shoulders either way.

…

They leave the jet a couple of miles away from the Hydra base and then Natasha takes point. The mission is simple enough. Get in, get the intel Hill needs, locate the Doctor, kill everyone else. 

The six guards on the back doors are a good warm up and all points out that even after years of not being together in the field Bobbie and Sharon are still a pretty good match as partners. Fury always saw it, of course, nothing never escaped the guy. He saw these women and sent Natasha out to join them even when she refused.  

“You ready for this?” Sharon asks her as Bobbie takes one of the guard’s key cards and hands it to Natasha.

“Yes.” Natasha answers as the door clicks open but Sharon holds her wrist before she pushes it open. 

“If you’re trying to protect someone, I get it. But don’t have me walk into what could very well become my grave without seeing the whole picture.”

Natasha glares at her but Bobbie’s silence is enough to make her pause. The mission is what matters, she wants to remind them, but this is her mission, this was her call, this was all Natasha and Sharon is right.

“They threatened someone I care about.” She tells them and damn it, this isn’t really the place or the time but she’s not about to say Wanda’s name in this place. “I’m not taking any chances.”

Sharon looks at her for a few hard long seconds but when she finds whatever it is that she’s looking for in Natasha’s eyes, she nods and checks her gun again. “Okay.”

“Let’s do this.” Bobbie agrees and Natasha pushes the door open without waiting another second. 

…

It takes Hydra a couple of minutes to realize that the guards at the door are down but Natasha, Bobbie and Sharon are already on the second floor by then and there are a lot more casualties too, on Hydra’s end.

The base is a moderate one and Natasha knows it by heart since it used to be a SHIELD base, a rather well hidden one that only a few knew the exact location of. She’s not surprised though, there was no record of these bases and the only reason she knows about them is because of Fury himself. She’ll make sure to check on all of them after this. 

“They know we’re here.” Sharon says as they round a corner and two guys come right at them. Natasha goes for the one of the left and she has to slide on the ground to avoid being shot at but once she’s back on her feet it takes her a little bit of effort to get on his shoulders because of how tall he is, but once she’s got him hooked he goes down easy. Bobbie knocks the other guy with a well placed hit to the side of his head and Natasha can’t help but grin in response. 

She’s always had to lean more heavily on ability rather than force, a problem that Bobbie does not have due to her battle staves and her expertise in using them. 

“Come on.” Sharon says as she loads another magazine on her gun while simultaneously checking a hologram map in her watch. “The office is down the hallway.”

“How long do you need?” Natasha asks, a plan already forming at the back of her mind. A plan that she’s had since the moment they boarded that jet to be quite honest.

“Eight minutes tops.” Sharon answers and the look she throws at her makes Natasha look away immediately. This is not the first time they’ve been together on the field and Sharon knows quite a few tricks of hers. “We stick together, right?”

“Right.” Natasha answers just as fast and unwilling to give anything away. 

“Hey.” Bobbie grips her forearm and doesn’t let go until Natasha is looking at her. “Whatever it is...”

“We stick together.” Natasha repeats and then she shakes herself free and moves down the hallway without preamble. 

As soon as she’s on sight she’s being shot at but she counts seven guards even as she takes cover behind an couch. 

She’s about to move when she notices the back door being thrown open and more of these Hydra guys pour out from the southern hallway. They’re surrounded but neither one of them wait a second before they go on the defensive. 

Running towards the closest guy Natasha is able to unarm him with a well placed kick to his wrist and she knocks him out by ramming his head into the nearest wall. It goes fast after that and she has to block out everything else, Sharon’s grunt of pain and Bobbie’s muffled groan along with it. 

She’s quick too, quicker than she’d usually allow herself to be when she’s working on a team rather than alone. She takes a gun and aims for necks, hearts and heads. She’s not leaving these Hydra scums alive if she can help it, and she can help it. Damn it! 

When the seven guards are down Natasha takes her chance and goes for the stairs and doesn’t stop going up, not even when she’s met with more resistance. They come at her from upstairs but she’s shooting her bites before they can even see her. She takes another gun from the nearest unconscious guard and shoots without second guessing it. She’s under no illusion here and she knows that if she leaves anyone alive behind they’d come for her and knowing what they want, knowing who they want.... Natasha is not taking any fucking chances. 

She shoots and doesn’t stop going up until no one is following her. 

“ _Damn it, Widow!_ ” Sharon curses through the comms as Natasha is running down a different hallway now and jumping behind a desk as the bullets rain around her. 

“Get the intel.” Natasha tells her as she takes a deep breath and then jumps right out there again. Even is Sharon and Bobbie wanted to come for her now, they wouldn’t be able to catch it. 

She’s not taking any chances, not when this mission means that she’s closer to keep Wanda out of Hydra’s hands for good. 

“Oh, fuck!” One of the guards curses when he comes face to face with her and she takes a little bit of pleasure at seeing the absolute horror on his face before she punches him in the nose and hears a satisfying crack. “It’s the Black Widow.” He groans in his comms as blood pours from his nose and Natasha puts a bullet in his neck right after.

“It’s the Widow!” Another one shouts and Natasha picks up her pace. She’s not usually this proud of the name that she’s made for herself but right now that name fills her with anew courage and if it means that Hydra is slightly afraid of what’s coming for them, then she’s fucking grateful. They should be. 

When she rounds the next corner she sees him, the Doctor and he’s being guarded by five agents. The moment he sees her he sprints down the opposite way and Natasha runs after him too. 

A brute of a man stays back to meet her halfway with his automatic pointing to her. A bullet does grace her upper arm but Natasha is far from letting a superficial wound stop her now. She goes straight for his kneecaps and as the guy doubles over in pain she’s tightening a wire around his throat and squeezing the life out of him. 

As soon as he goes slack behind her Natasha is running again. She knows this base and that’s why she goes back to the stairs and sprints up. The only place to make a quick scape is the roof now and she’s not wrong. 

The moment she emerges on the rooftop a helicopter is just touching ground. The agents are, of course, guarding the front stairs waiting for her. She shoots them all four in the back as she makes her way to the helicopter. 

“You’ll never get what you want!” The Doctor shouts at her, taunting her as he tries to get on the helicopter, as if he could really scape now, as if she’s going to let him.  

“Yes, I will.” She tells him before she shoots him in the leg and she throws a grenade into the open door of the helicopter.

The Doctor is screaming when the helicopter turns over the edge and goes down exploding and Natasha runs, pins him down and forces his mouth open to retract the little cyanide pill from the back of his mouth with her knife before he has the opportunity to go on his own terms. 

He screams, the little bastard screams his lungs out but Natasha is taking no chances, she has him and this time he’s not scaping. 

…

“You got what you came here for?” Bobbie asks her when they’re back on the jet and the Doctor is tied up and gagged up against one of the seats.

“Not yet.” Natasha says as she stares at him. Sharon and Bobbie are less than happy with her but the mission is complete, and that’s all that Natasha can truly think about. 

...


	17. Chapter 17

17.

Natasha returns to the Tower in the middle of the night with the injured doctor, and her own arm patched up. 

“She’s not happy.” Steve tells her when she arrives pushing the gagged doctor, and she almost misses a step when that’s the first thing out of his mouth. The first thing, and she hesitates because Steve is always a mother hen after any of them return from a mission.

He takes the doctor off her hands though, and drags him down to the holding cells with much more grace than Natasha could ever hope to do so herself.

“She’s not happy.” Sam tells her next when she makes her way into the kitchen for a glass of water, and he squeezes her shoulder in passing. She hasn’t had time to clean up because she wanted to come back as soon as possible, but now she’s realizing that her fastest might still be too late. 

“I know.” She says, and he gives her a sympathetic look. She’s under no pretense either, she knows that Wanda is already aware of her return, and Natasha has a lot of explaining to do. She knows, and the fact that Wanda isn’t out here greeting her already says a lot. 

“Did you tell her yet?” Stark asks Sam as he joins them and Natasha huffs a smile.

“Don’t you boys ever sleep?” She asks as Tony leans in to kiss her cheek, and rub his hand over her back. At least he’s happy she’s back in one piece. He looks at her with sympathy too, and Natasha begins to feel a little uneasy again. They’re here to warn her. These boys are not subtle at all. 

“She’s not happy.” He tells her, and she wants to groan a response but instead she drinks her water, taking a deep breath after.

“Agent Romanoff.” Vision says -with a subtle nod of his head- next as he emerges from down the hallway and this time Natasha does groan. He’s wearing pajamas, Vision is wearing pajamas, and Natasha would smile if she wasn’t so nervous already. Vision doesn’t even sleep! 

“She’s not happy?” She raises an eyebrow at his direction, and he smiles at her, hesitates for a second and then shakes his head softly. And damn it, he’s not looking at her with sympathy in his eyes, is he?

“The Doctor is down the hallway.” Is all she says before she leaves heading for the elevator. Everyone else knew that Natasha was going on this mission, but they didn’t know exactly where she was going because Natasha wanted it that way. Wanda has a right to be pissed but Natasha is sure that she’ll understand. 

She hopes.

“No rest for the wicked.” Tony declares.

“None.” Sam agrees. 

…

Wanda is sitting by her vanity. Hands busy applying lotion on her legs, wearing nothing but a towel, hair dripping wet, obviously having just taken a shower. Natasha’s mouth goes dry the moment she crosses the doorway to the bedroom, and she thinks about all the things that she could be doing with Wanda looking like that. If only the circumstances of her arrival were any different. 

“What a vivid imagination you have.” Wanda says with no real humor in her voice, accent thick, and Natasha clears her throat as she closes the door behind her before walking inside.

“I thought we agreed to no mind reading without previous consent.” Natasha says as she takes off her vest, and sits down on the edge of the mattress to untie her boots. 

“We did.” Wanda says, and stands up from her chair but still doesn’t cast a single glance at Natasha as she moves to the closet in search of clothes. “We also agreed to never leaving each other in the dark, and not go against Hydra on our own.”

“I’m sorry.” Natasha says after a beat. 

“I know.” Wanda says over her shoulder as she makes for the ensuite, pajamas in hand. She’s not ready to talk. 

When the bathroom door clicks shut Natasha closes her eyes, and grips the comforter until her knuckles turn white. Wanda is not pissed she’s hurt, and that’s worse, much worse. Natasha was not prepared for hurt, she was prepared for yelling but she should have known better, Wanda’s not a violent person.

Natasha waits but when she hears the hair dryer on she decides to pick up her towel, a clean change of clothes, and go out in search of a much needed shower. 

…

“She’s not happy.” Is the first thing she says when she finds Sam, and asks him if she can use his shower. He grimaces but he guides her to his floor anyway.  

“She wanted to go after you.” He tells her as he shows her to his bathroom. 

“That’s why I did what I did.” She shrugs and he nods. 

“I get it. Steve gets it. Tony gets it. Hell! Even Vision gets it but Wanda...” He hesitates then, and Natasha’s stomach sinks as her head begins to throb with a headache. “You wanted to protect her, and we all supported you but you love her, and she loves you. That always complicates things.”

Her entire body goes rigid when he says it like that, as if everyone knows it, as if it’s the worst kept secret of all time. Love. Love always haunts her in the end. Love makes her shrink back. Love is… love is a complicated thing.  

“Are you saying you don’t love me, Wilson? Not even a little bit?” She smirks, deflecting. A defense mechanism that almost never fails her. She wants out of this conversation altogether. 

“Not like that. Girl, you wish!” He laughs but his eyes are soft, filled with something that she can’t quite comprehend, something pure and familial. Something that still surprises her to be on the receiving end of. “I’m just saying… seeing her happy is something that we all treasure. That’s all.”

“I know.” She nods throat tightening, and skin prickling at how vulnerable this conversation is making her feel, and how right Sam is. “I know.”

…

When she returns to their bedroom Wanda is sitting on the edge of the opened window, long hair slightly waving in the wind, and Natasha’s chest lightens at the mere sight of her. 

The things she’d do to keep Wanda safe. She’d do anything to keep her alive and well, anything at all, and that alone scares her more than anything has scared her before. It’s crazy, because she’s been through some very gruesome things in her lifetime, done half of those things herself. 

“Come here.” Wanda says, her voice soft and inviting, and it breaks the spell that fell over them effectively. “Come on.” She stretches out her hand, and Natasha goes to her.

When she takes Wanda’s hand she pulls herself as close as she can. Wanda buries her face in her neck, arms already embracing her, and Natasha can breathe easily again. They haven’t had much time to themselves lately, and Natasha is just realizing how badly she’s missed Wanda. 

“I’m sorry.” She apologizes again, as she feels a light relief in her chest at having her arms wrapped like this around Wanda.

“Me too.” Wanda says as she looks up, and runs her thumb over Natasha’s jaw, where a nasty bruise is beginning to form, and her eyes glare at the patch on Natasha’s arm. “I shouldn’t have looked into your head like that.”

“I shouldn’t have left without telling you first.” Natasha admits, and Wanda raises an eyebrow at her, a look that Natasha’s come to learn well. “You’re disappointed.”

“I am, but not in you.” Wanda says, her voice still soft, tired. She sounds as if she hasn’t been sleeping well, and tiredness has dug deep in her bones in the last few days. 

“You can’t put this on you.” Natasha says carefully, knowing exactly where her mind is straying. 

“But it is on me.” Wanda disagrees. “All of this is on me. They want me, that’s why all of it has happened.”

“No, that’s not why all of this has happened.” Natasha tells her, and they both seem to step back from each other at the same time. Wanda is on her feet angrily, and Natasha is struggling to keep up with her line of thought.

“If anything happened to you, to any of you because Hydra is attempting to bring me back it’d be my fault.”

“It’ll be their fault, not yours.” Natasha tells her, her voice raising, and Wanda turns around. 

“You say that because you don’t know. You don’t know what they tried to do to us. And we were letting them!”

Wanda’s voice seems to echo around them, and Natasha follows her, pulls at her arms until they’re facing each other again. 

“Listen to me, Wanda.” 

“You don’t understand, we were there willingly.” Wanda’s tears roll down her cheeks, as if this guilt has never let up, only festered deep within her, and Natasha’s anger reaches a peek. Damn it! Hydra is a fucking parasite.

“Listen to me.” She repeats, her hands cupping Wanda’s jawline. “You were doing what you thought was best for your country. You did what you did because you wanted to fight. You wanted to serve. You wanted to take a stand, and do something good.”

“I don’t think our intentions make a difference here.” Wanda cries, and her irises turn scarlet, but Natasha has learnt to view her powers as something as natural as seeing her hair or her smile. 

“Your intention is what makes all the difference, rookie.” Wanda blinks a few tears back, and Natasha’s heart breaks. “You, and your brother did exactly what Steve did once upon a time. You volunteered, and you trusted in your government when they told you that you could make a difference. You did that because you wanted to help your country, you wanted to help.”

“Steve never wanted to hurt anyone.” Wanda shakes her head but she’s stopped crying, and Natasha smiles at her.

“Babe, Steve killed hundreds of nazis because they were the enemy. You grew up believing that Tony was guilty for your country’s problems. He was your enemy, and we were his allies. Of course you wanted us dead.”

“But I was wrong.”

“And you immediately knew what was the right thing to do when you realized that. God, rookie! You are so good, so good. You joined us even though you spent the majority of your life seeing us as the enemy, and you did it because you knew it was the right thing to do.”

“We were so naive to believe everything they told us.”

“And that is not your fault. That is not your fault.”

Wanda nods then, and Natasha hugs her close, kisses her temple and hugs her tight. Wanda is so strong, and so brave, and Natasha still can’t believe how those Hydra bastards ever thought that they could get her back. Not after what she’s seen, not after what she’s learnt.

“We are gonna bury them in the ground, babe. They’ll never, ever, get their hands on you again.” Natasha promises, and Wanda kisses her softly. 

“No more secret missions.” Wanda asks her, her lips grazing Natasha’s when she speaks, and Natasha freezes for a moment.

Every cell in her body wants to deny Wanda this request but she’s not alone, not anymore. Her decisions, however well intended they might be, still affect Wanda, and their relationship. She wants to protect Wanda at all costs, but she also wants to protect everyone else. 

“No more secret missions.” She promises regardless, and when Wanda kisses her again, she accepts what that promise means, and she kisses her back just as hard. 

...

I want to thank [@thegoogotme](https://thegoogotme.tumblr.com/) for helping me edit this chapter. :)


	18. Chapter 18

18.

A warm lazy buzz curses through her veins when she opens her eyes and Wanda feels so utterly satisfied that it’s no surprise when her lips stretch in an involuntary smile as her hands reach out to find Natasha curled against her, her arms around Wanda and her breath hot against her neck. 

It’d be a perfect morning if they weren’t surrounded by so much insertity. There is a man on this building that almost succeeded in making a killing machine out of her, and Wanda doesn’t want to be near him. She knows that the team won’t let her either. 

“You’re thinking too loud.” Natasha’s groggy voice reaches her ears as Wanda runs a hand on her face, her eyes firmly locked on the white ceiling. There is a voice inside her head that tells her to be in this moment, to enjoy this morning, to turn around and kiss her girlfriend silly, to stop thinking about her past and focus on her present, on her future. 

But this is her life, this is the life they live. There is  never a day off for the Avengers, is there? She’s starting to understand more and more that those days at Clint’s farm were a gift that might have been a one in a lifetime thing. 

“We are our history.” She says, the words feeling odd and unfamiliar on her tongue. She was just a small child the last time she heard those words being spoken. 

“What?” Natasha asks, now a bit more awake. 

“My mother used to say that.” Wanda explains, her eyes still focused on the ceiling as her fingers trace patterns on Natasha’s forearm. 

“What’s on your mind, rookie?” Natasha asks softly, her lips ghosting on Wanda’s bare shoulder now before she presses a light kiss there, and pulls their bodies closer together with a comfortable sigh.

“He knows I can look into his mind.” She speaks and Natasha’s breathing stops for a few seconds before she props herself on her elbow to look into Wanda’s eyes. “He must be prepared for that.”

Natasha has a serious case of bed hair and Wanda is tempted to run her fingers through it but Natasha is also frowning and her energy is so troublesome that Wanda finds it unnerving, and impossible to ignore. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut after all. 

“Did you get any sleep?” Natasha asks and it’s Wanda’s turn to frown. She’s the one who can read minds and Natasha doesn’t need that ability to read her like an open book. 

“A couple of hours, yes.” She answer promptly because she knows that Natasha expects a real answer. 

“We haven’t really talked about what happened on that ship, have we?” Natasha says as she moves to sit with her back resting against the board of the bed and Wanda sits up too. 

“I’m not a sleeper agent.” The words are out of Wanda’s mouth before she can stop herself and Natasha looks away, her hands clasped on top of her bend knees. 

“You wouldn’t know if you were.” She says softly and Wanda shakes her head. She’s had a lot of time to think about this and to do something about it too. 

“I’m not.” She says and Natasha picks up on the confidence of her voice quickly, her eyes finding Wanda’s again. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Rhodey lately and I’ve been busy too.”

“No need to sound jealous, babe.” Natasha says with a smirk and Wanda laughs, the sound caughting both of them by surprise. They haven’t laughed in a while either and it feels good to do so. 

“We both know that you’re the jealous one in this relationship.” Wanda says and Natasha snorts. 

“I am not.” She denies and Wanda takes the opportunity to scoot closer to her and run her fingers on Natasha’s hair like she wanted to do earlier. 

“Tell that to Vision.” She says with a shiteatting grin that has Natasha instantly rolling her eyes. 

“He likes you.” Natasha deadpans and Wanda intertwines their fingers together. 

“I like him too.” 

“Not like that.” Natasha shakes her head and Wanda’s devilish smile widens. 

“You sound confident about that.” She says and Natasha’s grin along with that predatory look in her eyes makes Wanda’s skin prickle, even before Natasha says a word. 

“Would you like me to show you how confident I am about that?” Natasha counters and Wanda’s lower stomach tingles at hearing that throaty, breathless tone in Natasha’s voice and the promise behind it, and she’s so close to give in. 

“Maybe later.” She says with a clear of her throat as she struggles to not stare her girlfriend’s breasts through that thin white top she’s wearing right now. “Definitely later.”

“Okay.” Natasha relents as she gives a little squeeze to Wanda’s hands and pulls her a bit closer together. “You’re not a sleeper agent.”

“I’m not.” Wanda replies and it feels good to say it out loud because she’s had the time to study herself and to look deep into her own mind without any distractions lately. “There was a program, it was close to brainwashing and we were in it for a while.” She explains softly but Natasha doesn’t give anything away with her reactions, and Wanda should know better than to expect one. 

“Okay.” Natasha says, poker face in place and her hands so warm against Wanda’s. The bruise on her jaw is a little darker this morning, Wanda notices, and the patch on her arm is a little red. She’d need to change it soon, clean up that wound too.  

“I didn’t remember when we were on the ship but I did remember the Doctor’s voice. He was the one who ran the program, his voice was the key.”

“What did he do?” Natasha asks and then proceeds to clear her throat. Wanda picks up on her anger even when Natasha’s face remains expressionless.

“Talk, mostly. I believe that my powers protected me from the programming. Hydra never truly controlled me. I was there willingly, I fought the Avengers willingly, I defended their base willingly. I joined forces with Ultron willingly.”

“And your brother?” Natasha asks without missing a beat and Wanda looks away, she’s had a lot of time to think about that as well. 

“I’m not sure.” She replies, even though that’s everything she’s been able to think for the last couple of days. They did everything together, everything, and Wanda would have followed him to the ends of the earth if he’d asked her to. Hydra knew that well. 

Hydra never truly needed her brainwashed as long as Pietro was already under their thumb, and they knew it. 

“You’re still a bad liar, rookie.” Natasha tells her and Wanda blinks a few tears away. 

Quietly and so delicately, Natasha wipes away her tears and they don’t need to say it because Natasha has always had a knack for knowing exactly what Wanda is not saying out loud and that’s not changing today.  

“That trigger he used. Has he tried that before?” Natasha asks carefully. 

“Once in the past, a few days before you raided the base.” Wanda says and Natasha cups her face with a hand. “And then on the ship, both times I passed out.”

“That’s still a trigger, babe.” Natasha tells her with a grimace.

“That’s the thing.” Wanda shakes her head. “The things they put in my head are still there but my powers won’t let them control me. Does that make any sense?” 

“It does, actually.” Natasha nods. “Like a living thing.” Natasha says after a beat and Wanda frowns, confused. “You said your powers are like a living thing existing within you.”

“They don’t feel so strange anymore.” 

“Maybe that’s a good thing.” Natasha smiles softly and Wanda lets out a breath. “They’re protecting you. That’s a very good thing.”

Wanda smiles relieved because Natasha gets it and that’s all she was hoping for. 

“I’ve missed you.” Wanda tells her and Natasha pulls her closer, until she’s straddling her lap and Natasha’s arms are keeping her close, wrapped around Wanda’s waist. 

“How much?” Natasha asks her and Wanda hugs her, her mouth grazing her earlobe. 

“Tell me you’ve missed me.” She whispers against her ear and Natasha looks up at her with the softest smile on her lips yet. It doesn’t matter if she’s coming on a little needy, it doesn’t matter because she needs to hear it. 

“My mind is always with you, rookie. Always.” Natasha tells her and Wanda’s heart is beating so hard. Natasha doesn’t express her feelings that often and hearing her say this is special. “You’ve got me under you spell, little witch.” Natasha smirks devilishly and Wanda groans in good humor.

“Not you too.”

“It’s catching on. Soon the press is gonna refer to you as the Avenger Witch or something.” Natasha laughs and Wanda groans again, her arms lazily thrown on Natasha’s shoulders. 

“I hate Stark.” She deadpans and Natasha laughs again.

“I’ve tried that, it didn’t work. Is it really working for you?” 

“I hate him.” Wanda repeats with what she hopes is more conviction and Natasha laughs some more. 

“Okay.” Natasha smiles, her lips now closer to Wanda’s. “No more talking.”

“No more talking.” Wanda agrees and they finally kiss. 

…

Wanda is forced to leave the Tower as the team readies to interrogate the Doctor. Stark asks her to meet the contractor on the Compound, have him sign a few papers and overlook the delivery of some furniture as an excuse. She wants to fight them on this but she also knows that the Doctor is ready for her and she can’t chance looking into his mind. 

“You look conflicted.” Vision tells her as they sit on the back seat of Stark’s range rover on their way to the Compound. 

“I’m fine.” She says.

“I don’t think Agent Romanoff likes me very much.” He comments after a little while and Wanda smiles in amusement. She’s certain that it was Natasha’s idea that Vision came with her in the first place because she knows that he’s her friend. 

“Why do you say that?” She asks and he smiles at her with trepidation, it’s almost as if he were able to blush and Wanda observes him closely. 

“I’m still trying to understand human connections and feelings.” He explains. “I’m afraid jealousy is still a hard emotion to grasp for me.”

“Not completely if you’re able to spot it.” She tells him and he smiles in a way that she’s noticed is only meant for her. 

“I am not a threat for Agent Romanoff.” He says and Wanda feels conflicted. As a friend she wants to assure him, tell him that he’s a catch because he is but as Natasha’s girlfriend she simply can’t disagree with him. 

“You’re almost too perfect, Vis.” She finds herself saying and it’s his turn to eye her curiously. But they’ve been good friends for a while now and they often have unspoken conversations, so she knows what he’s finally trying to say without actually saying it.

“I’m afraid being perfect is highly overrated.” He says with a grin and Wanda takes a deep breath as she reaches out to take his hand. 

In another life she’d have probably fall for him, it’d have been easy too, and he’d have loved her back just as much. They’d have been happy.   

“Natasha is very reserved.” She says as she sets their joined hands on her lap. She doesn’t want to talk about Nat with him, not like this but she needs to tell him something. “She doesn’t trust easily.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“That’s not to say that she doesn’t like you.” She says and he smiles, perhaps amused by her conclusion. 

“She has no reason to distrust me.” He says as the Compound comes into view in the distance. 

“She knows.” Wanda assures him as she struggles to find the right way to talk to him all of the sudden. She’d hoped that his interest in her wouldn’t grow in such a way, she’d hoped that they could nurse a friendship after all. 

“Like I said.” Vision says after a couple of seconds of Wanda refusing to look at him. “She has no reason to feel threatened by me.” He concludes as he takes his hand back and this time Wanda doesn’t feel inclined to say anything at all, because he’s right.  

…

When they return to the Tower later in the evening the whole team is sitting around the dining table, all looking tired and scared, as if they’ve just seen their worst nightmares come to life. 

“What happened?” Wanda asks with fear already lacing her tone as she walks closer but no one answers her. 

“He talked.” Natasha says, her eyes meeting Wanda’s for a fleeting second before she looks back down at the table where a laptop is opened. 

Wanda falters in her steps when she notices Natasha’s bloody hands resting on the table and her eyes scan every member of the team quickly. 

No one else has blood splashed on their clothes, no one but Natasha. 

“He talked alright.” Sam says too, his voice rough, but it’s Steve who turns the computer to her direction and Wanda looks at the images for two seconds before she looks abruptly away. 

She feels sick to her stomach and she doesn’t notice her hands fisting at her sides. 

She always knew that Hydra is bigger than she could imagine, she always suspected them to be crueler than they were leading on. 

Her feet take her directly to Natasha’s side and she helps her on her feet. 

“Nat? Honey?” She calls and Natasha nods at her, although her eyes are glassy and regret is written all over her face so clearly that Wanda knows everyone can see it and not just her. 

“He talked.” Natasha says again and swallows thickly, clears her throat and cups Wanda’s face with a hand. “We have a plan.”

Wanda takes her to their floor, helps her into the shower, and then hugs her tightly in their bed. 

The image of two little girls slaughtered on their twin sized beds still engraved in her mind. The Doctor talked but it cost him his daughters lives, and Hydra somehow made sure that the team knew exactly what happened. It means that they won’t stop until Wanda is back with them. It’s a warning, a threat. 

But that only means that Natasha won’t stop now until every single one of them is dead and Wanda isn’t the only who knows that. 

… 

 


End file.
